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JHflrtjia llliiHlfiiigta. 



MEMOIRS 



MOTHER AND WIFE 



WASHINGTOI. 



\ 



BY 



MARGARET C. CONKLING, 

AUTHOR OF harpers' TRANSLATION OF " FLORIAN'S HISTORY OF THE 

MOORS OF SPAIN;" "ISABEL, OR TRIALS OF THE HEART;" 

ETC., ETC. 



" Of differing themes the veering song was mix'd." 

"To teach us how divine a thing 
A woman may be made." 



SECOND EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED. 



AUBURN: 
DERBY, MILLER, AND COMPANY. 

1850. 



r 



^l5 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 185JJ, by 

DERBY, MILLER, AND COMPANY, 

In the Clerk's Office for the Northern District of New York. 



QoVrowsc^ \ro\rr\ "il'C L.C. 



STEREOTYPED BY THOMAS B. SMITH, 
216 WILLIAM STREET, N. Y. 



TO 

MES. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, 

A SLIGHT TRIBUTE TO HER MAl^TY VIRTUES, 

AND 

IN TOKEN OF HIGH REGARD, 

THIS VOLUME 
IS VERT RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED. 



Thank3 for the picture of thy daily life— 
Thy bright example, Daughter, Mother, Wife! 
The watchful care that cheers thy sire's decline, 
As a lone shaft's long shielded by a vine, 
A gentle, holy lesson, graven deep, 
Thy daughtei", cherished in her heart, will keep; 
Thy couch of siiffering she '11 bend above, 
And soothe thee, ever, with devoted love. 
Constant to thee, thy sons will crown thy days 
With reverence, heart-felt blessings, fondest praise ; 
And HE, still proving the truest of friends, 
The homage of whose faith on thee attends, 
Wherever tossed 'mid life's tumultuous jar, 
E'er turn to thee, his fixed, his guiding star, 
And in thy smile benign, confiding seek 
The peace, the happiness, thy prayers bespeak! — 
When thou in Heaven dost fold thy spirit-wing. 
Around thy name will sweetest memories cling. 
Soft as the balmy breath of fragrance cast 
On earthly bowers, where Peri's wing has pass'd, 



VI DEDICATION. 

Or radiance ling'ring round the glowing West} 
When day serene has gently sunk to rest! 

Long may Columbia's Daughters thus portray 
The lofty virtue of her earlier day !— 
And may the blessings of thy heart and hearth 
Change but for those of bright, empyreal birth! 

M. C. 0. 
Melrose, January 1st, 1850. 



(DHIE 



OF 



AHY WASniNGTOH. 



Life is not lost, from which is brought 

Endless renown, Spencer, 



. . . Virtue, on no aid extraneous bent, 
Is to herself, her own bright ornament. 

Tasso, 



CONTENTS 



OF THE 



IIFE OF MARY WASHINGTON. 



PAGE 

Introduction . • , 13 



CHAPTER I. 

Mrs. Washington's Birth — Descent — Family Name — Education — Mar- 
riage — Position, Character, and Occupation of her Husband — Mr. 
Washington's previous Marriage — Date of Mrs. Washington's Mar- 
riage — Her place of Residence — Birth of her son, George — Mr. 
Washington removes from his former Home — Names of Mrs. 
Washington's six Children — Death of Augustine Washington — State 
of his pecuniary affairs at his Death — Mr. Sparks' statements on this 
subject — Mrs. Washington's Practical Abilities called into requisition 
— The sole Guide of her Children after the Death of her Husband — 
Her system of Domestic Education and Discipline — Her good sense 
illustrated in the early Training of her son George — Mrs. Washing- 
ton a Christian Matron 15 



CHAPTER 11. 

The History of Mrs. Washington associated with that of her son George 
— His early efforts at Self-Maintenance — His initiatory Military Ad- 
ventures a source of Anxiety to his Mother— The Deaths of Mrs. 
Washington's two eldest sons — Letter addressed by Col. Washing- 
ton to his Mother, after the Battle of the Monongahela — His Illness 
— Appointment to the Chief Command of the Virginia Troops — 
Letter to Mrs. Washington upon this subject — Her clear-sighted 
discernment of the practical Objections to this Post — No Minute 
Details respecting this portion of Mrs. Washington's Life . . . 27 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER III. 

PAGK 

The Commencement of the Revolution— Washington's Appointment 
as Commander-in-Chief of the American Army — Mrs. Washington's 
pious Resignation — Her Removal from her country-seat to Fred- 
ericksburg, in Virginia — Bids adieu to her son — Her Remedy for 
Mental Anxiety — Her practicai Knowledge now peculiarly available 
to Herself and others — Mrs. Washingto-a's active Habits — Daily 
Practice of driving out to her Farm — Her prompt Discipline in re- 
Bpect to her Subordinates — Anecdote — Constantly receives the Visits 
and Attentions of her Children and Grand-children — Mrs. Washing- 
ton's Interest in Public Affairs— Her confidence in the ultimate 
Triumph of Right — Her Reception of the news of the successful 
Passage of the Delaware — Expression of her fervent gratitude to 
Heaven, when informed of the Surrender of the British Army at 
Yorktovvn — The Commander-in-Chief hastens to the Presence of 
his Mother — Mrs. Washington's Bearing and Conversation on this 
Occasion 41 



CHAPTER- IV. 

Washington's Public Welcome at Fredericksburg — Preparations for a 
Ball — Mrs. Washington specially Invited — Accepts the Invitation, 
attended by her Son — Her Reception by the Company — Her Dress, 
Manners, and Appearance on this public occasion — Astonishment of 
the Foreign Officers present — Characteristic Remarks of Mrs. Wash- 
ington, upon Retiring — The Commander-in-Chief dances his last 
Minuet 50 



CHAPTER V. 

Mrs. Washington's Children desire her to reside v.ith them — She pre- 
fers a separate Establishment — The affectionate Devotion of her 
Children and Friends — Continues her habits of diligent Exertion 
and Industry — Declines the Assistance of her Son-in-La\v iu the 
Management of her Affairs — Receives a visit from the Ma- quls de 
La Fayette — Mrs. Washington's celebrated Remark respecting her 
son George — The dignified nature of her Sentiments in re ation to 
him — The Influence she always maintained over his Mind— Wash- 
ington's unalterable Reverence for his Mother — His implicit Obe- 
dience to her — Mrs. Washington's Devotional Habits — Her single 
mental Infirmity — Personal Appearance of Mrs. Washington . . 55 



CONTENTS. XI 



CHAPTER VI. 

PAGB 

President Washington takes a final Leave of liis Motliei , before assum- 
ing his new duties — Mrs. Washington's impaired Health — Her last. 
Illness and Death — Letter from Washington to his Sister in relation 
to the Death of his Mother— Extract from Sparks' Life of Wash- 
INQXON 63 



CHAPTER VII. 

General Summary of the Character of Mrs. Washington . . ,68 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Place of Mrs. Washington's Interment — Monument to her Memory — 
Laying of the Corner-Stone by tlie President of the United States — 
Extracts from his Eulogy — Lines written for this occasion, by Mrs. 
Sigourney— Description of the Monument ...... 73 

Appendix to Mary Washington 85 



THE MOTHER OF WASHINGTON. 



-^-►-♦- 



INTRODUCTION. 

Here Woman reigns ; the mother, daughter, wife, — 
Strews with fresh flowers the narrow way of life ; 
In the clear heaven of her delightful ej-e, 
An angel guard of loves and graces lie ; 
Around her knees domestic duties meet, 
And fireside pleasures gambol at her feet. 

Montgomery. 

The artist who would embody the sublime ideal 
which has long engrossed his spiiitual contemplation 
— the idol of his ceaseless adoration, the imaginary 
impersonation of his most exalted conceptions of the 
Beautiful — again and again shrinks dismayed, despair- 
ing, from the impossible achievement he would fain 
essay. Thus does the biographer, whose best quali- 
fication for the task too partial friendship has assigned 
her, is profound reverence for the theme, — approach 
the awe-inspiring subject of the following Memoir. 

The life of woman, almost in proportion as it is true 
to the loftiest impulses and purest principles by which 
she can be actuated, presents comparatively few inci- 
dents claiming circumstantial record or remembmnce. 



XIV INTRODUCTION. 

Though the wife, or the mother of one who fills a 
large space in the world's eye, it is still, usually, hers 
to dwell only within the quiet precincts of domestic 
retirement. 

The Hero, like a majestic river, that bears the wealth 
of cities on its ample waters, and diffuses benefits to 
thousands, speeds onward in his high career, his steps 
resounding in the ears of listening nations ; while the 
mother, from whom, perchance, he derived the intellec- 
tual power that impels and sustains this lofty course, 
still, like a hfe-giving fountain whose sweet, bright wa- 
ters diffuse beauty, and health, and happiness, lingers 
ever in the shade, revered in the protecting sanctity 
of Home. 

The world may never know, may never seek, the 
gushing waters of the secluded fountain. But beside 
its peace-breathing murmurs, the worn and weary 
wanderer, — fame-pilgrim though he be, seeks repose ; 
returning once more, and yet once more, to imbibe its 
benign and soothing influences. In the quiet haunt it 
loves, dwell gentle spirits who minister to the wayfarer, 
and watch, with ceaseless care, over the sequestered 
purity and loveliness, which it is their precious charge 
forever to preserve, in inexhaustible and unsullied per- 
fection. 

As flow the crystal waters of a hallowed well-spring, 
glided on the life of Mary Washington ; thus serene, 
and pure, and secluded, thus genial and beneficent, 
and blessed ! 



CHAPTER I. 



The name of Mary — how the heart 

Thrills at the sound of that sweet name ! 
The holiest thoughts it may impart, 

Or wake the soul to deeds of fame ! J. "W M. 



Well-ordered home, man's best delight to make, 

And with submissive wisdom, modest skill, 

To raise the virtues Thompson. 



Mrs. Mary Washington was born in the Col- 
ony of Virginia, towards the conclusion of the 
year 1706. Little is known of her ancestors, 
except that she inherited an unimpeachable 
name. We are informed that she was descended 
from a highly respectable family of English colo- 
nists, named Ball, who originally established 
themselves on the banks of the Potomac. » 

It is to be lamented that no records of the 
youth, or early womanhood of this illustrious 
lady have been preserved. 

We are, therefore, in ignorance of the educa- 
tion and domestic influences by which her re- 
markable character was developed and matured. 



16 MEMOIR OF 

But judging from the rare combination of 
mental and moral qualities which we find exhib- 
ited in the brief history of her later life, we may 
suppose her home education to have been partic- 
ularly practical and judicious ; such, indeed, was 
almost the only instruction received by women 
in this country, even at a much later period than 
that to which we refer. 

To the abiding effect of early maternal train- 
ing, Mrs. Washington must have been, at least 
in some degree, indebted for her habits of unu- 
sual industry, economy, and regularity, as well 
as for the excellent constitution, that gave vigor 
and practical usefulness to the operations of a 
naturally powerful intellect. To the ineffaceable 
impressions of infant years, we may also ascribe 
the moral elevation and the exalted piety associ- 
ated with her noble mind. 

Augustine Washington, the husband of the cele- 
brated subject of our Memoir, was a gentleman of 
considerable wealth, and of distinguished lineage 
and position. Several of his ancestors early em- 
igrated to the Colony of Virginia, and honorable 
mention is made of more than one of them in the 
annals of the primitive days of the Old Dominion.* 

* Everything relating, even remotely, to the liistory of Wash- 



MARY WASHINGTON. 17 

" His occupation was that of a planter, which, 
from the first settlement of the country, had been 
the pursuit of nearly all the principal gentle- 
men of Virginia." 

Little can now be definitely ascertained re- 
specting the individual character of the father of 
the great American Hero. His premature death, 
and the entire want of any minute family record 
respecting him, render research in relation to 
his personal history almost wholly futile. We 
can only infer his worth from the distinct re- 
membrance in which his paternal tenderness 
was always held by his most eminent descendant, 
and from the fact that the valuable estate he pos-" 
sessed at his death, was " chiefly acquired by his 
own industry and enterprise, which would seem to 
indicate that in the concerns of business, he was 
methodical, skilful, honorable, and energetic."* 

Mr. Washington was twice married. Two 
;ons survived his first union. He was united to 
Mary Ball on the 6th of March, 1730. 

iugton, is so generally interesting, that we append, for the con- 
venience of the curious in such matters, Mr. Sparks' brief but 
clear exposition of the genealogy of*liis father's family. See 
Appendix — Note A. 

* Sparks' Life of Washington. 



18 MEMOIR OF 

After her marriage, Mrs. Washington's fmi 
residence was in Westmoreland County, Vir- 
ginia, not far from the beautiful river with which 
so many of the most agreeable reminiscences of 
her childhood and youth were associated. 

In this, the first home of her wedded life, two 
years subsequent to the union that promised such 
exalted and continued felicity, George, her eMest 
son, was born. 

Soon after this event, Mr. Washington removed 
with his family, " to an estate owned by him in 
Stafford County, Virginia, on the east side of the 
Rappahannoc River, opposite Fredericksburg." 

As years sped on, Mrs. Washington became 
the mother of two daus:hters, and three sons. 
She had thus, six children : — these were succes- 
sively, George, Betty, Samuel, John Augustine, 
Charles, and Mildred. The latter died in in- 
fancy. 

We discover no positive proof that the elder 
sons of her husband were under the immediate 
care of Mrs. Washington, but as many incidental 
indications present themselves of the cordial 
affection, unity and* interest that existed, in later 
years, among the members of the family, collec- 
tively, we may believe, especially in connection 



MARY WASHINGTON. 19 

with the strong sense of duty which, apparently, 
characterized every action of this faithful wife 
and mother, that her native benevolence and jus- 
tice were not at fault in this instance. 

The domestic happiness of this interesting little 
circle was soon most painfully and unexpectedly 
interrupted. A short and sudden illness termi- 
nated the life of Mr. Washington, on the 12th of 
April, 1743, at the age of forty-nine years. 

In the brief biographical notices of Mrs. Wash- 
ington which have, hitherto, appeared, she is rep- 
resented as being left by the death of her husband 
with very limited pecuniary resources. The 
testimony of Mr. Sparks, — than which nothing 
can well be more accurate and incontrovertible, — 
militates, most emphatically, against the impres- 
sion thus generally expressed. The following 
passages contain Mr. Sparks' statement upon this 
subject : — " It appears by his will that he [Mr. 
W.] possessed a large and valuable property in 
lands." *-###*** 

" Each of his sons inherited from him a separate 
plantation. To the eldest, Lawrence, he be- 
queathed an estate near Hunting Creek, after- 
wards Mount Vernon, which then consisted of 
twenty-five hundred acres ; and also other lands, 



20 ' MEMOIR OF 

and shares in iron-works situated in Virginia and 
Maryland, which were productive. The second 
son had for his part an estate in Westmoreland. 
To George were left the lands and mansion where 
his father lived at the time of his decease ; and to 
each of the other sons an estate of six or seven 
hundred acres. The youngest daughter died 
when an infant, and for the only remaining one 
a suitable provision was made in the will. It is 
thus seen that Augustine Washington, although 
suddenly cut off in the vigor of manhood, left all his 
children in a state of comparative independence. 
Confiding in the prudence of the mother, he 
directed that the proceeds of all the property of 
her children should be at her disposal, till they 
should respectively come of age." 

It was now that the extraordinary character- 
istics of this exemplary matron began most strik- 
ingly to exhibit themselves. 

Gifted with great firmness and constancy of 
purpose, as well as with a clear, discriminating 
judgment, and remarkable mental independence, 
her self-reliance was rapidly strengthened, and 
soon rendered habitual, by circumstances so 
peculiarly demanding its exercise, as those in 
which duty imperatively summoned her to act. 



MARY WASHINGTON. 21 

Her thorough knowledge of practical life en- 
abled her not only to superintend, in person, the 
complicated and important pecuniary affairs of 
her children, and the general interests of her 
household, but, also, by her indefatigable industry 
and ingenuity to supply, in a good degree, what- 
ever was necessary to the welfare and comfort 
of her family. 

Mrs. Washington had, henceforth, the exclu- 
sive direction of the primary education of her 
children. At once their companion, mentor, 
counsellor, and friend, she encouraged them to 
mental exertion, to moral culture, to athletic ex- 
ercise. She taught them self-respect, respect 
for the rights and feelings of others, self-control, 
and patienoe under fatigue and suffering; she 
stimulated in them a fondness for labor and for 
knowledge ; she inspired them with affection for 
each other, and for their country, and with the 
fear and love of God. In short, it was her sys- 
tematic and unceasing endeavor, to illustrate and 
eijforce willing compliance wdth the all- wise and 
immutable laws by which the physical, intellectual, 
and moral nature of man should be, harmoniously 
and unitedly, governed. Thus order, regulari- 
ty, and occupation, sympathy, cheerfulness, and 



22 MEMOIR OF 

unity, reigned supreme among tlie youthful deni- 
zens of her httle world of home. She exacted 
implicit obedience from her children, and she 
tempered maternal tenderness by strict domestic 
discipline ; but we are told by one* who, as the 
companion of her son, occasionally shared her 
care and hospitality, that she was "indeed truly 
kind." 

In that genuine and judicious kindness lies the 
secret of the powder always maintained by this 
venerated mother over the minds of her offspring. 
If she assumed the right to direct the actions of 
others, her daily life exhibited such powers of 
self-control and self-denial as convinced her chil- 
dren, by more irresistible evidence than mere 
words could convey, of the justice and disin- 
terestedness by which she was habitually ac- 
tuated. 

That she rendered their home, simple, nay even 

* Laurence Wasliiiigton, Esq., of Ohotank, wlio thus described 
his distinguished relative : " I was often there with George, his 
playmate, schoolmate, and young man's companion. Of the 
mother I was more afraid than of my own parents ; she awed 
me in the midst of her kindness, for she was indeed truly kind ; 
and even now, when time has whitened my locks, and I am the 
grandfather of a second gSftneration, I could not behold that 
majestic woman without feelings it is impossible to describe." 



MARY WASHINGTON. 23 

• 

humble, though it might be, endearing to her 
children, is proved in some degree, by the fre- 
quency and pleasure with which, as we gather 
from much incidental testimony, the happy band 
that once rejoiced in the comfort and security of 
her well-ordered abode, in after years revisited 
the maternal roof. Indeed, we are expressly 
informed, upon the best authority, that an inter- 
diction of the innocent amiUsements and relaxa- 
tions, a taste for which is so natural to the young, 
formed no part of the system of juvenile training 
practised with such preeminent success by Mrs. 
Washington. 

She never rendered necessary restraint and 
discipline needlessly distasteful or repulsive by 
ascetic sternness or harsh compulsion. The 
power that sometimes gently coerced the subjects 
of her guidance was a moral suasion far more 
effective and beneficial than influences such as 
those can ever exert. 

Of all the mental qualities of this celebrated 
w^oman, perhaps none was more constantly illus- 
trated in her life than her native good sense, the 
practical effects of wiiich were infinitely more 
useful and precious to her children than she could 



24 MEMOIR OF 

possibly have rendered volumes of theoretical 
precept, however philosophical and profound. 

To her possession of this unpretending, but 
invaluable characteristic, emphatically, her illus- 
trious son was indebted for the education that 
formed the basis of his greatness. 

This it was that taught the great Washington 
those habits of application, industry, and regu- 
larity, that were of such essential service to him, 
alike in the camp and in the cabinet, and which 
so materially contributed to render his character 
a perfect model, bequeathed to successive ages. 

This it was, that, by inculcating and enfor- 
cing habitual temperance, exercise, and activity, 
strengthened and developed the wonderful physi- 
cal powers that were rivalled only by the in- 
domitable will and stupendous wisdom of her son. 

To his mother Washington owed the high value 
he attache'd to " the only possession of which all 
men are prodigal, and of which all men should he 
covetous :" and from her early instructions he 
imbibed that love of truth for which he was re- 
markable, and which is so pleasingly and forcibly 
illustrated in some of the favorite anecdotes of 
our childhood.* 

* Our juvenile readers can scarcely fail to be familiar -with 



MARY WASHINGTON. 25 

Trained to unvarying respect for the truths of 
revealed rehgion, in which she was herself a firm 
believer, and rigidly regardful of the dictates of 
an enlightened conscience, her gifted son was 
indebted to Mrs. Washington for his quick moral 
sense, and the unflinching adhesion to principle 
that so strongly marked every act of his public 
and private life. 

The noble friend and pupil of Washington, and 
others among her numerous panegyrists, have 
likened the mother of the " Hero" to a Spartan 
matron. With due deference to the high source 
whence the comparison emanated, it seems 
scarcely just to her who was its subject. Her 
life reminds us rather, of those celebrated women 
whose names are recorded with grateful affection 
and respect by St. Paul, in his Epistles, — those 
heroic, self-sacrificing friends and champions of 
early Christianity, and its devoted advocates, who 
were "succorers of many," who scorned not to 
" bestow much labor" upon the temporal neces- 
sities of the Apostle and his fellow- martyrs, and 

the stories of « The Little Hatchet," and of " The Sorrel Colt," 
almost the only authentic anecdotes of the childhood of the 
great American hero, and which also incidentally illustrate more 
than one of his youthful habits. 



26 MEMOIR OF 

who even " laid down their own necks" for them ! 
Mrs. Washington was a Christian Matron, who 
derived her ideas of parental authority and gov- 
ernment from the same Book, wherein she sought 
her own rules of life ; and she was as much 
superior to a Spartan mother, as are the inspired 
principles of our blessed religion to the heathen 
teachings Avhich exalted mere physical courage 
above the highest virtues of humanity ! 



MARY WASHINGTON. 27 



CHAPTER II. 



'T is the Divinity that stirs within us ! Addison. 



Must such minds be nourish'd in the wild, 

Deep in the upturned foresis, midst the roar 

Of cataracts, where nursing Nature smiled 

On infant Washington ? Has earth no more 

Such seed within her breast and Europe no such shore ? 

Byron, 

We are unable to present our readers with any 
particulars of the life of I\Irs. Washington, for 
several years previous to the American Revolu- 
tion, except such as are gleaned from the pub- 
lished accounts of those troubled times, as asso- 
ciated wdth the history of her son. 

The incipient w^orkings of the mighty spirit 
destined to achievements that should move the 
world, influenced the youthful Washington, when 
only fourteen years of age, to form plans for inde- 
pendent efforts in a more enlarged sphere of 
exertion than was afforded him by the employ- 
ment and duties of home life. He had actually 
taken the necessary steps preliminary to entering 



28 MEMOIR OF 

the English Navy, when the disapproval of his 
mother prevented the accomplishment of his 
design. 

Our readers will be interested in the details 
respecting this incident furnished by Mr. Sparks : 

Washington's " eldest brother,* Lawrence, had 
been an officer in the late war, and served at the 
siege of Carthagena and in the West Indies. 
Being a well-informed and accomplished gentle- 
man, he had acquired the esteem and confidence 
of General Wentworth and Admiral Vernon, the 
commanders of the expedition, with whom he 
afterwards kept up a friendly correspondence. 
Having observed the military turn of his young 
brother, and looking upon the British Navy as the 
most direct road to distinction in that line, he 
obtained for George a midshipman's warrant, in 
the year 1746, when he was fourteen years old. 
This step was taken with his acquiescence, if not 
at his request, and he prepared with a buoyant 
spirit for his departure; but, as the time ap- 
proached, the solicitude of his mother interpos- 
ed with an authority, to which nature gave a 
claim." " 

" At this critical juncture, Mr. Jackson, a friend 

* The eldest son of Augustine "Washington. 



MARY WASHINGTON. 29 

of the family, wrote to Lawrence Washington as 
follows : ' I am afraid Mrs. Washington will not 
keep up her first resolution. She seems to dis- 
like George's going to sea, and says, several per- 
sons have told her it was a bad scheme. She 
offers several trifling objections, such as fond un- 
thinking mothers habitually suggest ; and I find 
that one word against his going has more weight 
than ten for it.' She persisted in opposing the 
plan, and it was given up. Nor ought that de- 
cision to be ascribed to obstinacy, or maternal 
weakness. It was her eldest son, whose char- 
acter and manners must already have exhibited 
a promise, full of solace and hope to a widowed 
mother, on whom alone devolved the charge of 
four 3^ounger children. To see him. separated 
from her at so tender an age, exposed to the perils 
of accident and the world's rough usage, with- 
out a parent's voice to counsel or a parent's hand 
to guide, and to enter on a theatre of action, which 
would forever remove him from her presence, 
was a trial of her fortitude and sense of duty, 
which she could not be expected to hazard with- 
out reluctance and concern."* 

Chief Justice Marshall's version of the matter 

* Sparks' Life of "Washington, yoL i, p. 10. 



80 iMEMOIR OF 

ascribes rather a more active personal agency to 
Washington himself, than that of Mr. Sparks. 
He says :~ 

" Those powerful attractions which the pro- 
fession of arms presents to young and ardent 
minds, possessed their full influence over Mr. 
Washington. Stimulated by the enthusiasm of 
military genius, to take part in the war in which 
Great Britain was then engaged, he had pressed 
so earnestly to enter the navy, that, at the age of 
fifteen, a midshipman's warrant w^as obtained for 
him."* 

But the numerous biographers of Washington, 
however they may differ in other respects, agree 
in ascribing his abandonment of this cherished 
scheme to the all-powerful influence of his mother. 
One of them affirms that the luggage of the young- 
enthusiast was actually conveyed on board the 
little vessel destined to bear him away to his 
new post, and that, when he attempted to bid 
adieu to his only parent, his previous resolution 
to depart was for the first time subdued, in con- 
sequence of her ill- concealed dejection and her 
irrepressible tears. 

Who shall say that the decisive interposition 

* Marshall's Life of Washington, vol. i. p. 2. 



MARY WASHINGTON. 31 

of his mother did not save from a life of limited 
usefulness and comparative obscurity, the embryo 
soldier and statesman ! 

Mrs. Washington proved the injustice of the 
imputation of weak, maternal fondness, which as 
we have seen was so erroneously supposed, by at 
least one of her friends, to be the source of her 
opposition to the washes of her son, by the cheer- 
fulness with which, almost immediately after the 
abandonment of his original design, she relin- 
quished the pleasure and benefit she would have 
derived from his continued residence under the 
paternal roof 

Juvenile as he was for assuming an occupation 
involving responsibilities so serious, the incipient 
hero was soon actively engaged in the profession 
of engineering, for which his favorite intellectual 
pursuits and his taste for athletic exercise had 
already prepared him. In consequence of the 
near vicinity of the residence of his half-brother, 
Lawrence, to the principal scene of his operations, 
George became an inmate of his family, and con- 
tinued, thenceforth, to be an absentee from his early 
home, with only the brief exceptions made by his 
being occasionally and temporarily there to aid in 
the care and arrangement of his mother's aflairs. 



32 MEMOIR OF 

A few years after his first withdrawal from her 
immediate personal guidance, this self-sacrificing 
parent was, for several successive months, de- 
prived of even the incidental presence and society 
of almost the only one of her children who was 
sufficiently mature to be a consjenial and Intel- 
ligent companion and assistant in her complicated 
and multitudinous avocations and duties. Mr. 
Lawrence Washington was compelled by indis- 
position to seek the more genial climate of Bar- 
badoes, upon the approach of the winter that 
followed the completion of the nineteenth year 
of his brother George, whom he selected as the 
friend and nurse who should accompany him 
in his voyage, and remain with him after his 
arrival at his destination. Despite the care and 
kindness of his amiable attendant, the invalid 
returned to Virginia in the following spring, to 
yield himself a victhn to the disease that had im- 
pelled him to leave home. Subsequent to this 
sad event, the youthful George, as one of the 
executors of his will, was long detained from his 
earlier home by his needful care of the estate and 
family of his deceased brother. 

Mrs. Washington, ever too disinterestedly 
anxious for the true vrelfare and happiness of her 



MARY WASHINGTON. 33 

son, willingly to interpose the slightest obstacle in 
the high and honorable path which circumstances 
and his own aspirations and exertions combined 
to mark out for him, most uncomplainingly and 
unselfishly resigned the gratification and assist- 
ance she would have derived from his residence 
with her, to promote his present and ulterior ad- 
vantage. 

The lapse of years gradually diminished the 
imperative exertions and high duties to which 
Mrs. Washington, during the prime of her wo- 
manhood, had so ceaselessly consecrated all the 
powers of her being. Her eldest daughter as- 
sumed the cares and responsibilities of weddea 
life, and was established in the new home, which 
wise maternal training had well fitted her to 
adorn ; George, when not engaged in his profes- 
sional avocations, resided upon the patrimonial 
estate of Mount Vernon, to which he became 
heir after the death o^ the only child of Mr. 
Lawrence Washington ; and the remaining chil- 
dren were rapidly advancing beyond the neces- 
sity of that unsleeping vigilance by which the 
safety, health, and happiness of their earlier days 
had been so effectually secured. 

Some years later, when the young Virginian 

2* 



34 MEMOIR OF 

who was destined, eventually, to fill so large a 
space in the world's eye, commenced his initia- 
tory military career, in the service of his native 
state, we sympathize in the maternal anxiety 
awakened at once for his personal safety and foi 
his success in arms. 

The only letters addressed to his mother, in- 
cluded in the published collection of Washington's 
Correspondence, were written during the French 
War, in the earliest stages of which, as our read- 
ers will remember, he acted as Adjutant of the 
northern division of Virginia militia, and as Aid- 
de-Camp to General Braddock. The first of 
these was penned just after the memorable and 
disastrous battle of the Monongahela, at which 
nothing but the unconquerable determination, 
that not even severe illness could subdue, enabled 
the author to be present ; and where, if he won 
some of his proudest laurels, he was, perhaps, ex- 
posed to greater personal danger than during any 
subsequent part of his military career. 

Distressing as are the details it contains, we 
include this letter in our Memoir, entire ; not only 
as one of the two communications, to which we 
have alluded, but to assist the reader in forming 
a more correct idea than words of ours could con- 



r— ^ 



MARY WASHINGTON. 35 

vey, of the dignified and confidential intercourse 
that was uninterruptedly maintained between 
these distinguished correspondents. 

"To Mrs. Mary Washington, near Fredericksburg. 

" Fort Cumberland, 18 July, 1755. 

" Honored Madam : 

"As I doubt not but you have heard of our 
defeat, and, perhaps, had it represented in a worse 
light, if possible, than it deserves, I have taken 
this earliest opportunity to give you some ac- 
count of the engagement as it happened, within 
ten miles of the French Fort, on Wednesday, the 
9th instant. 

" We marched to that place, without any con- 
siderable loss, having only now and then a strag- 
gler picked up by the French and scouting 
Indians. When we came there, we were attacked 
by a party of French and Indians, whose number, 
I am persuaded, did not exceed three hundred 
men ; while ours consisted of about one thousand 
three hundred well-armed troops, chiefly regular 
soldiers, who were struck with such a panic, that 
they behaved with more cowardice than it is 
possible to conceive. The officers behaved gal- 
lantly, in order to encourage their men, for which 



36 MEMOIR OF 

they suffered greatly, there being nearly sixty 
killed and wounded — a large portion of the num- 
ber we had. 

" The Virginia troops showed a good deal of 
bravery, and were nearly all killed ; for I believe, 
out of three companies that were there, scarcely 
thirty men were left alive. Captain Peyrouny, 
and all his officers, down to a corporal, were killed. 
Captain Poison had nearly as hard a fate, for 
only one of his was left. In short, the dastardly 
behavior of those they call regulars, exposed all 
others that were inclined to do their dutv, to 
almost certain death ; and at last, in despite of 
all the efforts of the officers to the contrary, they 
ran as sheep pursued by dogs, and it was impos- 
sible to rally them. 

" The General was wounded, of which he died 
three days after. Sir Peter Halkes was killed in 
the field, where died many other brave officers. 
I luckily escaped without a wound, though I had 
four bullets through my coat and two horses shot 
under me. Captains Orme and Morris, two of 
the aids-de-camp, were wounded early in the en- 
gagement, which rendered the duty harder upon 
me, as I was the only one then left to distribute 
the General's orders, which I was scarcely able 



MARY WASHINGTON. 37 

to do, as I was not half recovered from a violent 
illness, that had confined me to my bed, and a 
waggon for ten days. I am still in a weak and 
feeble condition, which induces me to halt here 
two or three days, in the hope of recovering a 
Httle strength, to enable me to proceed home- 
wards ;* from whence I fear I shall not be able to 
stir till towards September; so that I shall not 
have the pleasm'e of seeing you, till then, unless 
it be in Fairfax. Please to give my love to Mr. 
Lewis and my sister ; and compliments to Mr. 
Jackson, and all other friends that inquire after me. 
" I am, most honored Madam, 

" Your most dutiful son.^f 

We learn from other sources of information, 
that the indisposition of which the writer so 
briefly speaks, in this epistle, was sufficiently 
serious to endanger his life. Nor can we believe 
his own intimation to have conveyed the first 
knowledge of this distressing intelligence to his 
mother. She had, however, the consolation to 
be, at the same time, informed of all that she 

* The reader will remember that Col. W. had already re- 
sided some time upon his patrimonial estate of Mount Vernon, 
f Sparks' Life of Washington. 



38 MEMOIR OF 

could hope or even desire, in relation to his per- 
sonal prowess and military skill.* 

The remaining letter was written in anticipa- 
tion of an event which occurred soon after the 
Battle of the Monongahela — the appointment of 
Colonel Washington to the chief command of the 
Virginia forces. His commission bears the same 
date as that of the letter, though the author, as 
will be seen, was, as yet, uninformed of his pro- 
motion. 

" To Mrs. Mary Washington. 

"Momit Yernon, 14 August, 1155. 

" Honored Madam : 

" If it is in my power to avoid going to the 
Ohio again I shall, but if the command is pressed 
upon me, by the general voice of the country, and 
offered upon such terms as cannot be objected 
against, it w^ould reflect dishonor upon me to re- 
fuse it. And that, I am sure, ought to give you 
greater uneasiness than my going in an honor- 

* It need scarcely be said that this was the celebrated en- 
gagement in "which Col. Washington gained so much honor, and 
the disastrous result of which was nearly averted by his daring 
corn-age, as it also might have been by his ready discernment 
and sagacious tactics, had Gen. Braddock been guided by his 
advice in the incipient stages of the conflict. 



MARY WASHINGTON. 39 

able command. Upon no other terms will I 
accept of it. At present, I have no proposals 
made to me, nor have I any advice of such an 
intention, except from private hands. 

"I am, &c."* 

Our readers will not fail to remark the almost 
deprecatory tone that characterizes this epistle ; 
nor the deference it indicates to the wishes and 
opinions of the parent to whom it was addressed. 
It was, apparently, written in reply to a previous 
communication from his mother in relation to the 
same subject. 

We gather from incidental events that many 
practical objections to the acceptance of the post 
of Commander-in-Chief of the Virginian Frontiei 
Army, existed at this juncture ; and we may infer 
that the sagacious and far-seeing maternal eye dis- 
cerned these difficulties, and that Mrs. Washing- 
ton counselled her son to avoid responsibilities, 
that existing and uncontrollable circumstances 
might easily render not only devoid of honor 
or advantage, but personally unfortunate and 
injurious. 

Thus did this gifted woman, by claims the most 
irresistible, mature and perpetuate an influence 

* Sparks' Life of Washington. 



40 MEMOIR or 

and authority, that remained undiminished and 
undisputed, when her son had attained the pin- 
nacle of earthly fame. 

Before dismissing this portion of our narrative, 
we cannot refrain from expressing our deep re- 
gret at an almost entire want of material for those 
minute details, which, when they relate to inci- 
dents of personal history, serve so much better 
than mere description, to illustrate character and 
exhibit the peculiar and individualizing traits 
which alone can deepen and fill up, so to speak, 
the faint outline presented in the dehneations of 
the general historian. 



MARY WASHINGTON. 41 



CHAPTER III. 



He shall not dread Misfortune's angry mien, 

Nor feebly sink beneath her tempest rude, 
Whose soul hath learn'd, through many a trying scene, 

To smile at fate, and suffer unsubdued. Mbtastasio. 



To solemnize this day, the glorious sun 
Stays in his course, and plays the alchemist ; 
Turning, with splendor of his precious eye. 
The meagre, cloddy earth to glittering gold : 
The yearly course, that brings this day about. 
Shall never see it but a holy day ! Shakspkare. 



The events of the disordered times immedi- 
ately preceding the Revolution, were now rapidly 
developing. Following each other in startling 
and fateful succession, and finally resulting in the 
ever-memorable Declaration of Independence, 
Mrs. Washington suddenly beheld her son eleva- 
ted to a position surrounded by dangers the most 
imminent, and comprehending responsibihties the 
most solemn and portentous that can devolve 
upon human agency. 

Resting her fears, her aspirations, and her faith, 
upon that Support which could alone sustain the 



42 MEMOIR OF 

spirit of so affectionate and so discerning a parent, 
amid trials thus peculiar and severe, we see this 
heroic woman resigning herself with the same 
tranquil submission, and the same unaffected 
cheerfulness, by which her life had hitherto been 
distinguished, to the decrees of an overruling and 
inscrutable Destiny. 

Before his departure from his native State, to 
assume the command of the patriots assembled 
at Cambridge, the American Commander-in Chief, 
ever, mindful of his Mother's comfort and happi- 
ness, even when most burdened by public cares 
and obligations, assisted in effecting her removal 
from her country residence in its vicinity, to 
Fredericksburg. 

Mrs. Washington was remunerated for thus re- 
nouncing a home hallowed by many tender and 
time-honored associations, the peaceful asylum 
of her youthful family in the days of her early 
bereavement, the scene of their innocent sports, 
their juvenile education, and of her own strenu- 
ous exertions and self-sacrificing devotion during 
so many years of her life, by being placed in 
much nearer proximity to her friends and relatives, 
and in a position more secure from danger than 
any precaution could have rendered an isolated, 



MARY WASHINGTON. 43 

rural abode. And as she preferred to maintain 
an individual establishment, even after her home 
ceased to be the permanent residence of any of 
her children, this arrangement was peculiarly 
suitable and desirable. 

Bestowing on him the more than segis-shield 
of her blessing and her prayers, the patriotic 
mother bade adieu to her Son, for a period, the 
duration and events of which no mortal vision 
could even faintly discern. 

Long familiar with the most effectual means 
of escape from the dominion of too-anxious 
thought, she hastened, after this painful parting, 
to busy herself with the arrangement and care 
of her new home, and sought in active usefulness 
and industry, not only the solace of her own 
" private griefs" and apprehensions, but the high 
pleasure that springs from the consciousness of 
doing good. 

Ever possessed of far too much genuine self- 
respect and enlightenment to regard the necessity 
of homely toil as degrading or unfortunate, her 
practical ingenuity and personal efforts now sup- 
plied, in a good degree, the many deficiencies and 
deprivations arising from the pressing exigencies 
of the times, and materially assisted, not only in 



44 MEMOIR OF 

providing for the wants of her own househo«i, 
but in furnishing the means of that liberal charity 
which she had always exercised, however limited 
her resources, and which was not remitted when 
increasing occasion had arisen for its continu- 
ance. 

" "Whoso in pomp of proud estate, quoth she, 
Does swim, and bathes liimself in courtly bliss, 
Does waste his daies in dark obscuritie. 
And in oblivion buried is. 
Where ease abounds 'yts eath to doe amis, 
But who his limbs with labor, and his mynd 
Behaves with cares, cannot so easy mis." 

Though long past the meridian of life, her 
e-juanimity, her healthful habits, and the sys- 
tematic uniformity of her daily existence, still 
gave this exemplary matron the physical power 
essential for carrying into eifect her plans of self- 
dependence and benevolent usefulness. 

It was, at this time, her almost daily custom, 
seated in an old-fashioned, open chaise, to visit 
her little farm in the vicinity of the town, and 
while there, to drive about the fields giving direc- 
tions and personally superintending their execu- 
tion. 

Mrs. Washington is said to have required from 



MARY WASHINGTON. 45 

those about her a prompt and Hteral obedience, 
somewhat resembhng that demanded by proper 
mihtary subordination ; a habit doubtless arising, 
in some degree, from a consciousness of the men- 
tal power that enabled her rightly to judge, and 
wisely to direct. 

On one occasion, as we are told, she reproved 
an agent, who, relying upon his own judgment, 
had disobeyed her orders, saying, " I command 
you, — there is nothing left for you but to obey !" 

Thus, while occupied in her favorite pursuits, 
and preserved from all sense of loneliness, by the 
frequent and interesting visits of her children and 
grand-children, who were invariably most assidu- 
ous and aifectionate in their endeavors to con- 
tribute to her happiness, several years rolled away. 

Nor, as may well be supposed, did Mrs. Wash- 
ington, in the meanwhile, look with an unobser- 
vant or unsympathizing eye, upon the changing 
and momentous aspect of pubUc affairs. Her 
residence in Fredericksburg enabled her early to 
obtain the most important intelligence of the day, 
and we may believe the respectful attention of 
her Son, speedily and constantly supplied her with 
information denied to those possessing less claim 
upon his confidence and regai'd. 



46 MEMOIR OF 

If not always as sanguine of the ultimate tri- 
umph of the American arms, as more youthful 
and ardent spectators of the Revolutionary con- 
test, she watched the progress of national affairs, 
with patient and tranquil expectation. Frequently 
raising her thoughtful gaze from the painful con- 
templation of her country's struggles, towards the 
Omnipotent Friend who aids the sacred cause of 
Liberty and Right, she gained a firm and hopeful 
constancy that shielded her noble spirit, alike 
from unfounded enthusiasm, and desponding dis- 
trust ; and that rendered her an example, worthy 
of all honor, to those mothers, who, like herself, 
had resigned their sons to their country, in the 
hour of her greatest need. 

When the glorious and heart- warming intelli- 
gence of the successful passage of the Delaware,* 
by Washington and his brave coQipanions in 
arms, was communicated to his Mother, by the 
numerous friends w^io hastened to rejoice wdth, 
and to felicitate her upon so auspicious and im- 
portant an occurrence, she received the tidings 
with placid self-possession, and expressed her 
pleasure at the brightening prospects of her native 
land. 

■* Dec. 111Q. 



MARY WASHINGTON. 47 

But in relation to such portions of the de- 
spatches of her visitors as contained eulogistic 
allusions to her Son, she simply remarked, that 
" George appeared to have deserved v^ell of his 
country for such signal services," and added : — 

" But, my good Sirs, here is too much flattery ! 
— still, George will not forget the lessons I have 
taught him — he will not forget himself, though he 
is the subject of so much praise." 

And when, after the lapse of long, dark years 
of national gloom and suffering, Mrs. VVashing-- 
ton was, at last, informed* of the crowning event 
of the great conflict — the surrender of Lord 
Cornwailis, she raised her hands with profound 
reverence and gratitude towards Heaven, and 
fervently exclaimed, " Thank God ! — war will 
now be ended, and peace, independence and hap- 
piness bless our country !" 

An interval of nearly seven perilous and ad- 
venturous years had passed, when this illustrious 
American matron enjoyed the happiness again 
to behold her victor-crowned and illustrious Son. 

Upon the return of the combined armies from 
Yorktown, the Commander-in-Chief repaired im- 

* To whose thoughtful care Mrs. W. o-wed the Express de- 
spatched to her with this grateful news, may easily be sui'mised. 



48 MEMOIR or 

mediately to Fredericksburg, attended by a nu- 
merous and splendid suite, composed of the most 
distinguished European and American officers 
who had shared his protracted toils and his 
final triumph. 

No sooner had Washington dismounted than 
he sent a messenger to apprize his Mother of his 
arrival, with a request to be informed when it 
would be her pleasure to receive him. 

Then, dismissing for a time the attributes and 
attendants of greatness, he repaired, unaccompa- 
nied and on foot, to the modest mansion where 
his venerable parent awaited his coming. 

Mrs. Washington was alone and occupied in 
some ordinary domestic avocation, when the 
gladdening intelligence of her Son's approaching 
visit was communicated to her. 

She met him on the threshold with a cordial 
embrace, her face beaming with unmingled pleas- 
ure, and welcomed him by the endearing and 
well-remembered appellation associated with the 
pleasing memories of early years. 

The quick eye of maternal tenderness readily 
discerned the furrowed traces of the ceaseless 
and wearing responsibilities that had for years 
been the burden of his thoughts, and in the unfor- 



MARY WASHINGTON. 49 

gotten tones and with the simple affectionateness 
of other days, Mrs. Washington immediately and 
earnestly adverted to the subject of her son's 
health. 

At length, turning the conversation to scenes 
and themes hallowed to each by the most cher- 
ished remembrances, these deeply-attached and 
happily reunited relatives talked long of mutual 
friends and former times. But to the peerless 
fame of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armies 
of America, there was not the most remote allu- 
sion ! 

Yet, as the immortal Savior of his Country 
gazed upon the beloved and expressive counte- 
nance turned approvingly and affectionately upon 
him, his happiness was unalloyed and exalted as 
earth can bestow. 



60 MEMOIR OF 



CHAPTEE IV. 



There fell a momeiifs thrilling silence round, — 

A breathless pause ! — the hush of hearts that bea^ 

And limbs that quiver : Hemans. 



And blessed waa her presence there — 

Each heart, expanding, grew more gay ; 
Yet something loftier still than fear, 

Kept men's familiar looks away ! Schiller. 



Why then should witless man so much misweenti 

That nothing is but that which he hath seen. Spenser. 

The unexpected arrival of Washington and 
his Suite, created the most enthusiastic dehght 
among the citizens of Fredericksburg. 

Not only the inhabitants of the town, but num- 
bers of gentlemen from its vicinity, hastened to 
welcome the deliverers of their country with 
every demonstration of respect and hospitality : 
happiness irradiated every face, and all were soon 
engrossed by the eager preparations for festive 
pleasure. 

It was determined to celebrate the joyful occa 
sion by a splendid Ball. 



MARY WASHINGTON. 51 

Mrs. Washington received a special invita- 
tion. She answered, that " although her dancing 
days w^ere pretty well over, she should feel happy 
in contributing to the general festivity." 

The company assembled at a much earlier 
hour than modern fashion would sanction. Gay 
belles and dignified matrons graced the occasion 
arrayed in rich laces and bright brocades, — the 
well-preserved relics of scenes when neither na- 
tional misfortune nor private calamity forbade 
their use. 

Numerous foreign officers were present, in the 
brilliant uniforms of their respective corps, glit- 
tering with the dazzling insignia of royal favor 
and successful courage. 

Thither came veteran heroes, the blessed and 
honored of after times, whose war-scathed vis- 
ages bespoke the unflinching bravery and perse- 
vering devotion with which they had served their 
country, through long years of hardship and 
danger. 

There, too, now swayed only by the light breath 
of pleasure, waved in billowy folds, the dear- won 
banners of the " tented field." Music poured its 
spirit-stirring strains upon the soldier's ear, not 
to summon him to deeds of arms, but, by its gen- 



52 MEMOIR OF 

tier influences, to inspire the chivalrous gallantry 
that well became the hour, — the gleesome jest, the 
merry laugh, 

" Nods, and becks, and wreathed smiles 1" 

But despite the soul-soothing charm of music, 
the fascinations of female loveliness, and the flat- 
tering devotion of the gallant brave, all was eager 
suspense and expectation, until there entered, un- 
announced and unattended, the Mother of 
Washington, leaning on the arm of her Son. 

Hushed was each noisy tone, subdued each 
whispered word, as with quiet dignity and unaf- 
fected grace they slowly advanced. 

Nature had stamped upon the brow of both, the 
unmistakable signet of nobility, and 

" The vision and the faculty divine" 

spoke in the imp6sing countenance of each, and 
directed every movement of the majestic pair. 

All hastened to approach this august presence ; 
the European officers to be presented to the 
parent of their beloved Commander, and old 
friends, neighbors, and acquaintances, to tender 
the compliments and congratulations appropriate 
to the occasion. 



MARY WASHINGTON. 53 

Mrs. Washington received these pecuUar dem- 
onstrations of respect and friendship, with perfect 
self-possession and unassuming courtesy. She 
wore the simple, but becoming and appropriate 
costume of the Virginia ladies of the olden time, 
and even 

" The cynosure of beauty's sheen" 

was for a time forgotten, while all eyes and all 
hearts were irresistibly attracted by the winning 
address and unpretending appearance of the ven- 
erable lady. 

The European strangers gazed long in wonder- 
ing amazement, upon this sublime and touching 
spectacle. Accustomed to the meretricious dis- 
play of European courts, they regarded with 
astonishment her unadorned attire, and the min- 
gled simplicity and majesty for which the language 
and manners of the Mother of Washington 
were so remarkable. 

They spoke of women renowned in classic 
lore : — the names of the celebrated Voluminia, and 
of the noble mother of the Gracchi, broke invol- 
untarily from their lips ; and they spontaneously 
rendered the tribute of admiration and reverence 
at the shrine of native Dignity and real Worth. 



54 MEMOIR OF 

Having, for some time, regarded with serene 
benignity, the brilhant and festive scene, which 
she had so amiably consented to honor by her 
presence, Mrs. Washington expressed the cordial 
hope that the happiness of all might continue un- 
diminished until the hour of general separation 
should arrive, and quietly adding, that " it was 
time for old people to be at home," retired as she 
had entered, leaning on the arm of the Com- 
mander-in-Chief. 

Perhaps it will interest some of our lady-readers 
to know that the immortal Washington danced 
on this occasion for the last time ; — in the stately 
minuet, so well adapted to the advantageous dis- 
play of his graceful air, and elegant and imposing 
form. He is also described as having been in- 
spired with great cheerfulness and animation, 
while momentarily courting the aerial graces. 
The French gentlemen who participated in the 
pleasures of the evening, protested that Paris 
itself could boast nothing more perfect than the 
dancing of the fair and the gallant Americans as 
sembled at this celebrated Ball. 



MARY WASHINGTON. 55 



CHAPTER y. 



Her house 
Was ordered well ; her children taught the way 
Of life — who, rising up in honor, called 
Her blest. 

****** 

In virtue fair, 
Adorned with modesty, and matron grace 
Unspeakable, and love — her face was like 
The light, most welcome to the eye of man. Pollok. 



Who sat 'mongst men like a descended god, 

***** 

Who livM in court, which it is rare to do, 

Most praised, most loved: 

A samjile to the youngest; to the most mature 

A glass that feated them. Shakspkare. 

Re-established at Mount Vernon, it was the 
earnest desire of Washington that his Mother 
should thenceforth reside under his roof. 

He had frequently before, urged the same re- 
quest, and his sister, Mrs. Lewis,* who was 
always most assiduous in fulfilling the duties im- 

* Mrs. Fletcher Lewis, of Fredericksburg, the only sister of 
Washington, whom she so closely resembled, that when she was 
arrayed in his usual head-dress, her features were undistinguish- 
able from his. 



56 MEMOIR OF 

posed by nature and affection, had repeatedl]? 
endeavored to persuade her aged parent to live 
apart from her no longer. 

But the venerable matron, notwithstanding the 
affectionate entreaties of her children, continued 
to conduct a separate estabhshment, with the 
same indefatigable industry and judicious man- 
agement which she had earlier exhibited. She 
still obeyed — 

" The breezy call of incense-breathing morn" 

with as much alacrity as of yore, and still gave 
her attention to the most minute details of do- 
mestic affairs. 

In this tranquil retreat, where 

" K'one knew her but to love, 
None named her but to praise," 

she long continued to receive the frequent and 
fondly-respected visits of her many old and at- 
tached friends as well as of her children* and her 

* "We find many proofs in the published Correspondence of 
Washington, of the affectionate devotion with which he paid this 
tribute of respect to his mother. Thus, he assigns his absence on 
a visit to her, as a reason for not previously replying to a letter 
from the Secretary of Congi-ess ; and afterwards again, in a letter 
to Major-General Knox, he offers the same explanation of a 



MARY WASHINGTON. 5"^ 

children's children, blessed in her happy and 
honored age, by the soothing consciousness of a 
virtuous and well-spent life. 

To the urgent and oft-repeated requests of her 
children, that she would make with them the 
home of her age, Mrs. Washington replied : — 

"I thank you for your dutiful and affection- 
ate offers, but my wants are few in this life, and 
I feel perfectly competent to take care of myself" 

And when her son-in-law, Colonel Lewis, pro- 
posed to assume the general superintendence of 
her affairs, she resolutely answered — 

" Do you. Fielding, keep my books in order, 
for your eyesight is better than mine, but leave 
the executive management to me." 

Previous to his departure for France, after the 
termination of the Revolutionary War, the Mar- 
quis de La Fayette visited Fredericksburg, ex- 
pressly for the purpose of making his personal 
adieus to the mother of his beloved hero-friend, 
and that he might solemnly invoke her blessing. 

similar delay. When his mother was ill, we perceive that he 
pleads this honorable errand, without reserve, as presenting 
claims superior to any public obligation. In an epistle written 
towards the close of the year 1788, we find allusions to a pro- 
longed sojourn under the maternal roof, &c., &q. 



3» 



58 MEMOIR OF 

This amiable visitor, who had frequently be- 
fore enjoyed the happiness of conversing w^ith 
her, repaired to the unobtrusive abode of Mrs. 
Washington, accompanied by one of her grand- 
sons. 

As they approached the house, they observed 
an aged lady working in the adjoining garden. 
The materials composing her dress were of home- 
manufacture, and she wore over her time-silvered 
hair, a plain straw bonnet. 

" There, Sir," said the younger gentleman, " is 
my grandmother/' 

Mrs. Washington received her distinguished 
guest, with great cordiality, and with her usual 
frank simplicity of address. 

" Ah, Marquis !" she exclaimed, " you see an 
old woman ; — but come, I can make you welcome 
to my poor dweUing, without the parade of chang- 
ing my dress." 

The conversation of this interesting group soon 
turned, as was most natural, upon the brightening 
prospects of the young Republic. 

The Marquis spoke of the deep interest he 
cherished in all that related to the prosperity 
of the land of his adoption, and poured forth the 
fond and glowing encomiums of a full heart at 



MARY WASHINGTON. 59 

each allusion to his former Chief, — his friend, his 
Mentor, his " hero." 

To the praises thus enthusiastically lavished 
upon her son, by the noble Frenchman, his hos- 
tess only replied, " / arn not surprised at what 
George has done, for he tvas always a good 
boy." 

Thus did the true greatness of this extraordi- 
nary woman often manifest itself. It was her 
pleasure frequently to revert to the early days of 
her august Son, and to express her approbation 
of his dutiful and upright conduct ; but she never 
appeared in the slightest degree elated by the 
honors that were showered "thick and fast" upon 
his glorious name. 

With unaffected piety, she referred each and 
every occurrence of life to the Great First Cause, 
and when the notes of jubilant praise swelled 
high, even above the din of battle and the wail- 
ings of a nation's despair, it was her earnest ma- 
ternal aspiration that the " good boy" of her early 
care, might never "forget himself !'' 

" For by the dread decree of Heaven, 

Short is the date to earthly grandeur given, 
And vain are all attempts to roam beyond 
Where fate has fixed the everlasting bound." 



60 MEMOIR OF 

Mrs. Washington was always remarkable for 
that unequivocal proof of superiority, the power- 
ful influence she exerted over the minds of 
others. 

Her ideas of the respect due to her as a parent, 
remained unchanged either by the lapse of time, 
or by the development of mighty events, with 
which her wonderful Son was so closely identi- 
fied. Ever his trusted counsellor and friend, to 
her he was always the same in relative position.* 
To her he owed his existence ; to her the early 
discipline of his extraordinary intellect, and of his 
high moral nature ; and to her he was indebted 
for the sage advice and prudent guidance of ma- 
turer years. 

Nor did her son manifest the slightest dissent 

* This peculiarity forcibly reminds us of an expressive inci- 
dent in the life of the mother of the Buonapartes — Madame Mere, 
On one occasion, when the Emperor Napoleon gave audience to 
the several members of his family, while walking in one of the 
galleries of the Tuilleries, among his other relatives, his mother 
advanced towards him. The Emperor extended his hand to 
lier to kiss, as he had done when his brothers and sisters ap- 
proached him, " No !" said she, " you are the King, the Emperor 
of all the rest, but you are my son /" We leave our readers to 
draw the contrast irresistibly suggested by this anecdote, be- 
tween the Republican Statesman and the Emperor of all the 
French. 



MARY WASHINGTON. 61 

from this sentiment. We are informed by one* 
well entitled to be regarded as unquestionable 
authority, that " to the last moments of his ven- 
erable parent he yielded to her will the most im- 
plicit obedience, and felt for her person and char- 
acter the highest respect and the most enthusiastic 
attachment." 

Perhaps the life of this celebrated lady afforded 
no more convincing proof of the genuine noble- 
ness of her character, than was evinced by the 
constancy with which she maintained the pecu- 
liar sentiments and principles of her youth. We 
may believe that a mind less perfectly balanced, 
would have rendered, at least, an unconscious 
homage to the power of circumstances so novel 
and so imposing as those in which she was placed. 

It w^as Mrs. Washington's habit, during the lat- 
ter years of her life, to repair daily to a secluded 
spot near her dwelling, formed by overhanging 
rocks and trees. There, isolated from worldly 
thoughts and objects, she sought in devout prayer 

and meditation, most appropria^te preparation for 

/ 

/ 

* G. W. P. Custis, Esq., the grandson of Mrs. Martha Wash- 
ington, to whose interesting " Recollections" we are indebted for 
most of the particulars relative to the life of Mrs. W., now in the 
possession of the literary public. 



62 MEMOIR OF 

the great change which she was admonished by 
her advanced age, might nearly await her. 

But one of the many weaknesses that usually 
characterize humanity, was manifested by this 
heroic woman. Upon the approach of a thun- 
der-storm she invariably retired to her own apart- 
ment, and remained there until calmness was 
restored to the elements. This almost constitu- 
tional timidity, was occasioned by a singularly 
distressing incident of her youth — the instant 
death, from the effects of lightning, of a young 
friend, who was, at the moment when the acci- 
dent occurred, sitting close beside her. 

The appearance of Mrs. Washington is said to 
have been pleasing. Her countenance was agree- 
able and highly expressive, and her person well- 
proportioned and of average height. 



MARY WASHINGTON. 63 



CHAPTER VI. 



She goes unto the Rock sublime 
Where halts above the Eternal Sea, the shuddering 

Child of time ! Schiller. 



Before Washington's departure for the seat 
of government, to assume the duties of President 
of the United States, he went to Fredericksburg 
to pay his parting respects to his aged mother. 

Mrs. Washington's heahh had now become so 
infirm as to impress her with the conviction that 
she beheld for the last time the crowning blessing 
of her declining age. 

Forgetting all else in the same mournful belief, 
the calm self-possession that no calamity had for 
years been able to shake, yielded to the claims of 
nature, and, overpowered by painful emotion, the 
mighty chieftain wept long, with bowed head, over 
the wasted form of his revered and much-loved 
parent. 

Sustained, even in this trying hour, by her na- 
tive strength of mind, the heroic Mother fervently 



04 MEMOIR OF 

invoked the blessing of Heaven upon her sorrow- 
ing Son, and solemnly bestowing her own, bade 
him pursue the path in which public duty sum- 
moned him to depart. 

Mrs. Washington retained unimpaired posses- 
sion of her mental faculties to her latest moments, 
but during the last three years of her life, her 
physical powers were much diminished by the 
effects of the distressing malady with which she 
was long afflicted. 

This painful disease* terminated her earthly 
existence in her eighty-third year. Her death 
occurred on the 25th of August, 1789. She had 
been forty-six years a widow. 

The last hours of this incomparable woman 
were accompanied by a tranquillity and resigna- 
tion most unlike the usual death-bed attendants 
of the world's scathed devotees. 

An extract from a letter written by Washtng- 
TON to his sister, soon after the decease of their 
Mother, will best illustrate the methodical calm- 
ness with which she made a final adjustment of 
her temporal affairs. Our readers will also, thus 
become possessed of the minutest information in 
relation to the concluding scenes of Mrs. Wash- 

* Cancer in the breast. 



MARY WASHINGTON. 65 

ington's life, that persevering research has ena 
bled us to discover. 

" To Mrs. Betty Lewis. 

"K'ew York, 13th September, 1789. 

" My Dear Sister :— 

vP vf* Vp Tt" ^ Vp 

" Awful and affecting as the death of a parent 
is, there is consolation in knowing that Heaven 
has spared ours to an age beyond which few at- 
tain, and favored her with the full enjoyment of 
her faculties and as much bodily strength as usu- 
ally falls to the lot of fourscore. Under these 
considerations, and a hope that she is translated 
to a happier place, it is the duty of her relatives 
to yield due submission to the decrees of the Cre- 
ator. When I was^last at Fredericksburg, I took 
a final leave of my mother, never expecting to 
see her more. 

*•' It will be impossible for me at this distance, 
and circumstanced as I am, to give the smallest 
attention to the execution of her will ; nor, in- 
deed is much required, if, as she directs, no secu- 
rity should be given, nor appraisement made of 
her estate ; but that the same should be allotted 
to the devisees with as little trouble and delay as 
may be. How far this is legal I know not. Mr. 



66 MEMOIR OF 

Merced can, and I have no doubt would, advise 
you if asked, which I wish you to do. If the cer- 
emony of inventorying, appraising, &c., can be 
dispensed with, all the rest, as the will declares 
that few or no debts are owing, can be done with 
very little trouble. Every person may, in thot case, 
immediately receive what is specially devised. 

" Were it not that the specific legacies, w^hich 
are given to me by the will, are meant and ought 
to be considered and received as mementoes of 
paternal affection in the last solemn act of life, I 
should not be desirous of receiving or removing 
them ; but in this point of view, I set a value on 
them much beyond their intrinsic worth." 

We are, of course, indebted to Mr. Sparks' 
Life of Washington for the communication 
from which this extract is derived. We also give 
Mrs. Washington's age, at the time of her death, 
as stated by Mr. S., though it is sometimes repre- 
sented to have been still more advanced. 

We cannot better, or more suitably, close this 
chapter than by presenting our readers with the 
just, discriminating, and graceful eulogy expressed 
in the following eloquent passage from the pen 
of the same accurate and accomplished author : — 



MARY WASHINGTON. 67 

" The weighty charge of five young children, 
the eldest of whom was eleven years old, the su- 
perintendence of their education, and the man- 
agement of complicated affairs, demanded no com- 
mon share of resolution, resource of mind, and 
strength of character. In these important duties, 
Mrs. Washington acquitted herself with great 
fidelity to her trust, and with entire success. Her 
good sense, assiduity, tenderness, and vigilance 
overcame every obstacle ; and as the richest 
reward of a mother's solicitude and toil, she had 
the happiness to see all her children come forward 
with a fair promise into life, filling the sphere 
allotted to them in a manner equally honorable to 
themselves, and to the parent who had been the 
only guide of their principles, conduct, and habits. 
She lived to witness the noble career of her eldest 
son, till by his own rare merits, he was raised to the 
head of a nation, and applauded and revered by 
the whole world. It has been said, that there 
never was a great man, the elements of whose 
greatness might not be traced to the original 
characteristics or early influence of his mother. 
If this be true, how much do mankind owe to the 
mother of Washington." 



68 MEMOIR OF 



CHAPTEE VII. 



Thou high-born spirit, on whose countenance, 

Pure and beloved, is seen leflected all 

That Heaven and Nalui-e can on earth achieve ! — 

Michel Anqelo. 



" There sounds not fo the trump of Fame, 
The echo of a noble name !" 

As well might we assimilate the airy graces of 
a modern belle, arrayed in the ample costume of 
the present da}^, with the undraped proportions 
and severe beauty of an antique statue, as to com- 
pare the life and character of the Mother of 
Washington with those of the women of our 
own times, or adjudge her attire, character, and 
manners by the arbitrary rules of fashionable 
conventionalism ! 

Hers was a character that might stand forth in 
its natural majesty, unrelieved by the " aids and 
appliances" of adventitious circumstance; and 
the grateful reverence which we instinctively ac- 
cord her, can only be inspired by transcendent 
worth. 



MARY WASHINGTON. 69 

Those who best knew her inestimable quaUties, 
earnestly strive to impress us with the conviction 
that she was gifted with attributes adapting her in 
a most extraordinary degree to the immortal part 
assigned her in the drama of human existence. 
Yet the stern virtues that served to mould a 
future Hero, were attempered by womanly ten- 
derness and sympathy; and we associate them in 
our remembrance with the practical kindness 
and unostentatious habits that equally marked her 
daily life. 

The philosophy so forcibly illustrated in the 
history of Mary Washington is not that of Plato, 
of Socrates, or of Zeno, but that of Christ ! 

Her equanimity was not the result of consti- 
tutional insensibility, nor yet of a debasing stoi- 
cism, but of the dominant influence of immutable 
Religious Principle, forever supreme, alike over 
the weaknesses of nature and the promptings of 
worldly ambition. 

The life and character of this illustrious matron, 
in some points of general resemblance, reminded 
us of those of the self-devoted Scottish Covenan- 
ters of old : like them, she regarded with indiffer- 
ence, if not with contempt, the inconvenient 
requisitions of ceremony and the unscrupulous 



70 MEMOIR OF 

exactions of corrupting fashion ; like them she 
sought to obtain from the Bible alone her invari- 
able rule of life ; and like them, she worshipped 
God surrounded by the majestic companions of 
nature, 

" N'ot 'neath tlie domes, where crumbling arch and column 
Attest the feebleness of mortal hand ; 
But in that fane, most catholic and solemn, 
Which God has plann'd I" 

Iler Name and her Fame are the priceless in- 
heritance, not of her native country alone, but of 
every land that boasts a knowledge of the glorious 
achievements of the immortal Champion of 
Liberty ! 

Her name will be revered, and her memory 
cherished, when tliose of mighty empires and 
world-renowned sovereigns shall have sunk for- 
ever into the v\ hirlpool of Oblivion : unsullied, 
unobscured by the supremacy of power and the 
lapse of ages, they will beam forth resplendent in 
the sanctified lustre of Moral Grandeur. 

At the feet of the proud daughter of the Ptole- 
mies, the conquerors of the world laid down their 
crowns, yet Clio, faithful to the truth, withholds 
the meed of honor from the coward soul that 



MARY WASHINGTON. 71 

could not brave adversity. The history of 
Christina, the royal Swedish wanderer, scarce 
serves, at best, to "point a moral," and awakens 
no more exalted sentiment than one of pitying 
regret. Maria Theresa, despite her many and 
exalted excellencies, sacrificed some of woman's 
first, best duties on the altar of ambition. And 
who will demand either love or veneration for 
the memory of England's greatest Queen, re- 
nowned as much for her most unfeminine faults, 
as for her boasted masculine virtues. 

Imagination may pall in the contemplation of 
mere charms of person, — even though unrival- 
led, — when associated with the moral cowardice 
of the famous Egyptian Queen ; we may regard 
profound erudition without respect, when allied 
with the undisciplined instincts and uncontrolled 
passions of the celebrated daughter of the Great 
Gustavus ; or hear with indifference, tributes to 
the religious enthusiasm and regal heroism of the 
Empress-King ;* or turn with unsympathizing dis- 
like from the haughty, indomitable, relentless 
Elizabeth ; but when shall the daughters of Co- 

* " Behold our King !" was the enthusiastic exclamation of 
the brave Hungarian nobles, at the most touching and sublime 
moment of the life of this great sovereign. 



72 MEMOIR OF 

lumbia be weary of imbibing the benign and hal- 
lowed influences inseparably associated with the 
pure and sacred name of Mary Washington ? 

The combined qualities of her consistent, ele- 
vated, conscience-illuminated character, consti- 
tute a perfect whole, that most beautifully and 
strikingly illustrates alike the TVoma7i and the 
Christian, in the highest and most comprehensive 
sense of those expressive w^ords. 

Enshrined in the Sanctuary of Home, her sub- 
lime example is the peerless boast of her country; 
and it shall but brighten as it recedes with re- 
volving years. 

Radiant in the zenith of Columbia's Heaven, 
beams the star of her fame, fixed and enduring as 

" the cerulean arch we see, 



Majestic ix its own suiplicity !' 



MARY WASHINGTON. 73 



CHAPTER YIII. 



" There are deeds which should not pass away, 
And names that must not wither, though the earth 
Forgets her empires with a just decay, 
The enslavers and the enslaved, their death and birth." 



Act I — for in action are wisdom and glory ; 

Fame, immurtality, these ai-e its crown ; 
Wouldst thou illumine the tablets of story. 

Build on achievements thy doom of renown. 
Honor and feeling are given to cherish ; 

Cherish them, then, though all else should decay ; 
Landmarks be these that are never to perish. 

Stars that will shine on the dustiest day. J. G. Von Salis. 

The remains of Mrs. Washington were in- 
terred at Fredericksburg, in Virginia, where she 
so long resided, and where she remained till the 
time of her death. 

For many years after her decease her place of 
sepulchre was undistinguished by any mark of 
public respect ; but more recently a tasteful and 
splendid monument has been erected to the mem- 
ory of Mrs. Washington, under the direction of a 
Committee representing the citizens of her native 
State,* 

* In preparing these pages for the press, the author, having 



74 MEMOIR OF 

The ceremony of laying the corner-stone of 
this highly appropriate mausoleum, was performed 
by Andrew Jackson, who was at the time Presi- 
dent of the United States, and who was, there- 
fore, very properly invited by the Monumental 
Committee to assume that honorary task. 

This interesting celebration occurred on the 
seventh of May, 1833. 

General Jackson went from the seat of govern- 
ment to Fredericksburg, attended by the several 
members of the National Cabinet and by a nu- 
merous concourse of highly respectable citizens 
and strangers. The inhabitants of Fredericks- 
burg, also united in great numbers, w'th this im- 
posing assemblage ; and the whole scene was 
characterized by the most cordial and respectful 
interest, and by deep pathos and solemnity. 

The President distinguished the occasion by an 

not the slightest renson to suspect then- accuracy, assumed as 
facts the statements iii relation to this public monument con- 
tained in " Knapp's Female Biogp^aphy." Truth, hov.ever, com- 
pels her, most reluctantly, to admit that, after the MS. was 
delivered to the Publisher, a newspaper article, purporting to 
be written at Fredericksburg, met her eye, in which it was 
asserted that the tomb of Mrs. "Washington has not been com- 
pleted, and that it, at present, exhibits painful indications of 
neglect and decay. 



MARY WASHINGTON. 75 

elegant eulogistic Address, from which we present 
our readers with a few paragraphs. 

TFE" TfP Tt» ^ ^ 

" We are assembled, fellow-citizens, to witness 
and assist in an interesting ceremony. More 
than a century has passed away since she to 
whom this tribute of respect is about to be paid, 
entered upon the active scenes of life. A century 
fertile in wonderful events, and of distinguished 
men who have participated in them. Of these 
our country has furnished a full share ; and of 
these distinguished men she has produced a 
Washington ! If he was " first in war, first in 
peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen," we 
may say, without the imputation of national van- 
ity, that if not the first, he was in the very first 
rank of those, too few indeed, upon whose career 
mankind can look back without regret, and whose 
memory and example will furnish themes of eu- 
logy for the patriot, wherever free institutions are 
honored and maintained. His was no false glory, 
deriving its lustre from the glare of splendid and 
destructive actions, commencing in professions 
of attachment to his country, and terminating in 
the subversion of her freedom. Far different is 
the radiance which surrounds his name and fame. 



76 MEMOIR OF 

It shine^ mildly and equally, and guides the phi- 
lanthropist and citizen in the path of duty ; and 
it will guide them long after those false lights 
which have attracted too much attention, shall 
have been extinguished in darkness. 

" In the grave before us, lie the remains of his 
Mother. Long has it been unmarked by any 
monumental tablet, but not unhonored. Yott 
have undertaken the pious duty of erecting a col- 
umn to her name, and of inscribing upon it, the 
simple but affecting words, " Mary, the Mother of 
Washington." No eulogy could be higher, and 
it appeals to the heart of every American. 

" These memorials of affection and gratitude, 
are consecrated by the practice of all ages and 
nations. They are tributes of respect to the 
dead, but they convey practical lessons of virtue 
and wisdom to the living. The mother and son 
are beyond the reach of human applause ; but 
the bright example of paternal and filial excel- 
lence, which their conduct furnishes cannot but 
produce the most salutary effects upon our coun- 
trymen. Let their example be before us from the 
first lesson which is taught the child, till the 
mother's duties yield to the course of preparation 
and action which nature prescribes for him. 



MARY WASHINGTON. 77 

" Tradition says, that the character of Wash- 
ington was strengthened, if not formed, by the 
care and precepts of his mother. She was re- 
markable for the vigor of her intellect and the 
firmness of her resolution. 

7t* Tt" VV" ^ tP 

" In tracing the few recollections which can be 
gathered, of her principles and conduct, it is im- 
possible to avoid the conviction, that these were 
closely interwoven with the destiny of her son. 
The great points of his character are before the 
world. He who runs may read them in his whole 
career, as a citizen, a soldier, a magistrate. He 
possessed unerring judgment, if that term can be 
applied to human nature ; great probity of pur- 
pose, high moral principles, perfect self-possession, 
untiring application, and inquiring mind, seeking 
information from every quarter, and arriving at 
its conclusions with a full knowleds^e of the sub- 
ject ; and he added to these an inflexibility of 
resolution, which nothing could change but a 
conviction of error. Look back at the life and 
conduct of his mother, and at her domestic gov- 
ernment, as they have this day been delineated 
by the Chairman of the Monumental Committee, 
and as they were known to her contemporaries. 



78 MEMOIR OF 

and have been described by them, and they will 
be found admirably adapted to form and develop, 
the elements of such a character. The power 
of greatness was there ; but had it not been 
guided and directed by maternal solicitude and 
judgment, its possessor, instead of presenting to 
the world, examples of virtue, patriotism and wis- 
dom, which will be precious in all succeeding ages, 
might have added to the number of those master- 
spirits, whose fame rests upon the faculties they 
have abused, and the injuries they have com- 
mitted. 

tP ^ ^^ ^w* ^W 

" Fellow-citizens, at your request, and in your 
name, I now deposit this plate in the spot destined 
for it ; and when the American pilgrim shall, in 
after ages, come up to this high and holy place, 
and lay his hand upon this sacred column, may 
he recall the virtues of her, who sleeps beneath, 
and depart with his affections purified, and his 
piety strengthened, while he invokes blessings 
upon the Mother of Washington." 

The following impressive lines were prepared 
for this interesting ceremonial, by our gifted 
countrywoman, Mrs. L. H. Sigourney : 



MARY WASHINGTON. 



79 



« Long hast thou slept unnoted. Nature stole 
In her soft ministry, around thy bed, 
And spread her vernal coverings, violet-gemm'd, 
And pearl'd with dews. She bade bright Summer bring 
Gifts of frankincense, with sweet song of bu'ds, 
And Autumn cast his yellow coronet 
Down at thy feet, and stormy AVinter speak 
Hoarsely of man's neglect. But now we come 
To do thee homage. Mother of our Cliief, 
Fit homage, such as honoreth him who pays I 
Methinks we see thee, as in olden time, 
Simple in garb— majestic and serene— 
Unaw'd by " pomp and circumstance" — in truth 
Inflexible— and with Spartan zeal 
Repressing vice, and makmg folly grave. 
Thou didst not deem it woman's part to waste 
Life in inglorious sloth, to sport awhile 
Amid the flowers, or on the summer wave, 
Then fleet like the ephemeron away, 
Building no temple m her children's hearts, 
Save to the vanity and pride of hfe 
Which she had worshipp'd. 

" Of the might that cloth'd 
The " Pater Patriae"— of the deeds that won 
A nation's liberty, and earth's applause, 
Making Mount Vernon's tomb a Mecca haunt — 
For patriot and for sage, while time shall last, 
What part was thme, what thanks to thee are due. 
Who mid his elements of being wrought 
With no uncertain aim— nm-smg the germs 



80 MEMOIR OP 

Of godlike virtue in his infant mind, 
We know not, — heaven can tell I 

" Rise, noble pile 1 
And show a race unborn, who rests below — 
And say to mothers, what a holy cliarge 
Is theirs — with what a kingly power their love 
Might rule the fountains of the new-born mind — 
Warn them to wake at early dawn, and sow 
Good seed before the world doth sow its tares, 
J^or in theii' toil decline — that angel bands 
May put the sickle in, and reap for God, 
And gather to his garner. 

" Ye who stand 
With thrilling breast and kindling cheek this morn, 
Viewing the tribute that Virginia pays 
To the blest Mother of her glorious Chief ; 
Ye, whose last thought upon your nightly couch, 
Whose first, at waking, is, your cradled son, 
What though no dazzling hope aspires to rear 
A second Washington, or leave your name. 
Wrought out in marble, with your country's tears 
Of deathless gratitude, — yet may ye raise 
A monument above the stars, a soul 
Led by your teachings, and your prayers, to God." 

The exquisite taste and perfect keeping, ex- 
hibited in this mausoleum, render it one of the 
most elegant works of art, of which our country 



MARY WASHINGTON. 81 

boasts. The form is pyramidal ; and the height 
of the obelisk, forty-five feet. The shaft is 
adorned by a colossal bust of the immortal Wash- 
ington, and surmomited by the American Eagle, 
sustaining a civic crown above the heroic head. 

Language can scarcely afford a more irresist- 
ibly touching illustration of the moral sublime, 
than is contained in the brief sentence inscribed 
upon this hallowed tomb : — 

MARY 

THE MOTHER OP 

WASHINGTON. 



4* 



APPENDIX TO MARY WASHINGTON. 



APPENDIX TO MARY WASHINGTON. 



Note A. — "In the year 1538, the Manor of 
Sulgrane, in Northumberlandshh'e, was granted 
to Lawrence Washington, of Gray's Inn, and for 
some time Mayor of Northampton. He was prob- 
ably born at Warton, in Lancashire, where his 
father Hved. The grandson of this first proprie- 
tor of Sulgrane, who was of the same name, had 
many children, two of whom, that is, John and 
Lawrence Washington, being the second and 
fom'th sons, emigrated to Virginia about the year 
1657, and settled at Bridge's Creek, on the Po- 
tomac River, in the county of Westmoreland 
The eldest brother, Sir William Washington, 
married a half-sister of George Villiers, Duke of 
Buckingham. Lawrence had been a student at 
Oxford. John had resided on an estate at South 
Cave, in Yorkshire, which give rise to an erro- 
neous tradition among his descendants, that their 



86 APPENDIX TO MARY WASHINGTON. 

ancestor came from the North of England. The 
two brothers bought lands in Virginia, and be- 
came successful planters. 

" John Washington, not long after coming to 
America, was employed in a military command 
against the Indians, and rose to the rank of 
Colonel. The parish in which he lived was also 
named after him. He married Anne Pope, by 
whom he had two sons, Lawrence and John, and 
a daughter. The elder son, Lawrence, married 
Mildred Warner, of Gloucester County, and had 
three children, John, Augustine, and Mildred." 

"Augustine Washington, the second son, was 
twice married. His first wife was Jane Butler, 
by whom he had three sons and a daughter; 
Butler, who died in infancy, Lawrence, Augus- 
tine, and Jane, the last of whom died likewise, 
when a child." His second wife was Mary Ball. 
Sparks'" Life of Washington. 



MAUTHA WASHIIGTOI. 



E II ® nm 



OF 



MAETHA ¥ASniNGTOH, 



A Perfect Woman, nobly planned, 
To warn, to comfort, and command ; 
And yet a spirit, still and bright. 
With something of an Angel's light ! 

Wordsworth. 



Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, 
Is om- destined end or way; 
But to act that each to-morrow, 
Finds us farther than to-day. 

Longfellow. 



CONTENTS 



OF THE 



LIFE OF MARTHA WASHINGTON 



CHAPTER I. 

PAQB 

The Subject of our Memoir, a Belle, in her early Years, in the Capital 
of Virginia — Her Disposition and Appearance — Maiden Name — Place 
and Date of her Binh — Descent — Education — Mental Endowments — 
Her early Matrimonial Engagement — ()i)position of Col. Custis' Fa- 
ther — The Marriage of Miss Danuridge — Removal to the Plantation 
of her Husband — Name and Situation of the Residence of Col. Custis 
— Character and Hosiiitality of Col. Custis — Mrs. Custis an American 
Matron — Becomes a Mother — Her Domestic Happiness — The Death 
of her Eldest Son — Death of Col. Custis — Anecdote — Strength of 
Mind displayed by Mrs. Custis — Her two remaining Children — Her 
Religious Principle — Business Abilities of Mrs. Custis — Active At- 
tention to her Children 97 



CHAPTER 11. 

Mrs. Custis a beautiful and fascinating Widow— The White House again 
the Seat of Hospitality — Mrs. Custis for some time not tempted to re- 
marry — Meets Col. Washington — His undisguised Admiration of the 
fair Widow — Their Engagement — The War-Steed and Servant of the 
Soldier the Victims of Cupid's arts — Preparations for the Wedding — 
The Distinguished Character of the Assemblage — The " Pride, Pomp 
and Circumstance" of the Occasion 108 



92 CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER III. 

PAGB 

Date of the Marriage of Col. and Mrs. Washington — They remove from 
the White House to Mount Vernon — Origin of the Name of Washing- 
ton's Plantation — Washington's desire to render his Home worthy of 
its Mistress — Memoranda of Articles ordered from London — Peculiar 
Characteristics of Domestic Life in the Colonies — Mrs. VVashington 
assumes her new Duties — Washington relieves her from the Charge 
of her Pecuniary Affairs — Mrs. Washington conducts the Education 
of her Children — Again the Wife of a Virginia Planter — Anecdote of 
Washington — Mrs. Washington's Journeys from Home — Her Friend- 
ships and Hospitalities — Distinguished Visitors at Mount Vernon — 
Mrs. Washington's Charity, conscientious Care of Dependants, Piety, 
and Domestic Contentment — Her Pleasure as her Daughter advances 
towards Womanhood— The Death of Miss Custis — Grief of the Fam- 
i\y — Dale of IMiss Custis' Death — Signs of approaching War — Wash- 
ington leaves Home to attend the First Congress .... 113 



CHAPTER IV. 

Mrs. Washington does not accompany her Husband to Philadelphia — 
Washington is appointed Commander-in-Chief of the American Ar- 
my — Tliis Intelligence first communicated to Mrs. Washington in a 
Letter from her Husband — The Letter — Mrs. Vv^ashington deter- 
mines to repair to the Seat of War — Letter from Washington to his 
Brother — Mrs. Washington's supposed Danger at Jlount Vernon — 
Public Reception at Philadelphia — She is invited to a Ball — Annoying 
Proof of Popular Disaffection — Leaves Philadelphia — Letter from 
Washington to Joseph Reed, Esq. — Mrs. Washington's Accommoda- 
tions at Cambridge — Letter from Washington to Joseph Reed, Esq. 
— Mrs. Washington's Piety and Serenity of Mind — She gains the Re- 
gards of all about her, and the Appellation of "Lady Washington" — 
She takes Leave of her Husband and Son and returns to Mount 
Vernon 128 



CHAPTER V. 

Mrs. Washington establishes a Domestic System suited to the Times — 
Her Success in Domestic Manufactures — Mrs. Washington's peculiar 
mterest in Public Afifairs— Her Indignation at the Treachery medi- 
tated towards the Commander in-Chief, and her Delight when in- 
formed of the successful Passage of the Delawai-e . . . 142 



CONTENTS. 93 



CHAPTER VI. 

PAOB 

Washington goes into Winter Quarters — Mrs. Washington joina him in 
the Camp — Iler Husband's Care and Attention during lier Yearly 
Journeys— Mrs. Washington travels in lier own Carriage, attended by a 
Military Escort — The Example of Mrs. Washington generally followed 
by the Wives of the principal Officers of the Army — Mi-s. Washington 
the Favorite of the Army — Anecdote — The Cheerfulness and Equa- 
nimity of Mrs. Washington, while residing in the Camp — Her Society 
highly valued by the Commander-in-Chief^Aii'^cdote — Mrs. Wash- 
ington devotes herself to the care of the Sick and Sufftring — She 
forms many agreeable Friendships — Her Correspondence at this Time 
— Extract from a Letter — Mrs. Washington's intimate Associa- 
tion with the Heroes of the Revolution 147 



CHAPTER VII. 

Mrs. Washington's return to Mount Vernon, in the Spring of 1777 — Re- 
assumes the personal Charge of Family Affairs — Supplies the Place 
of her Husband at Home — Keady to retuin to Camp in the Autumn 
— The Army at Valley Forge — Passage from one of Jlrs. Washing- 
ton's Letters — Christian Faith and Fortitude of Mrs. Washington 
— Spring brings cheering Tidings from France — Active Movements in 
the Camp — Mrs. Washington again repairs to her Home — Mrs. Wash- 
ington's Winter at Valley Forge a Type of many successive Seasons — 
The Location of Head-Quarters — The Marquis de Chastelleux the 
Guest of Gen. and Mrs. Washington, in the Camp — Extract — Mrs. 
Washington neglected by the Philadelphia Ladies — She is hospita- 
bly received elsewhere — Mrs. Washington visits Sirs. Barry, of New 
Jersey — A Ball given in Honor of her Arrival — The Equipage, Attend- 
ants and Dress of Mrs. Washington at this time — The Commander- 
in-Chief dances at the Ball — The Anniversary of the National Alli- 
ance with France celebrated by a Ball, at which Mrs. Washington is 
present — The Respect entertained for Mrs. Washington in Europe — 
Reported Present from the Queen of France — The Marriage of Mrs. 
Washington's Son, Col. Custis — Her Daughter-in-law resides at 
Mount Vernon — Ret'ealed Illness of the Commander-in-Chief— Mrs. 
Washington's Health impaired — She is Inoculated for the Small -pox 
— Mrs. Washington's Appearance at this Period of her Life— Grand- 
children claim the Care and Affection of Mrs. Washington — Her Oc- 
cupations and Amusements — Prosjjects of Peace — Mrs. Washington's 
Anticipations of Domestic Felicity — She is summoned to the Death- 
bed of her Son — Particulars respecting Co!. Custis' Public Career, Ill- 
ness and Death — Washington's Grief on this Occasion — His Sym- 
pathy with Mi's. Washington 158 



94 CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



FAOB 

Date of Col. Ciistis' Death— Mrs. Washington devotes herself more en- 
tirely to the Charge of her Craud-children — She remains at Moimt 
Vernon — Her EJuspilality and Benevolence — Her Husband returns to 
Mount Vernon— Passage from one of Washington's Letters to the 
Marchioness de La Fayette — Proposed Enlargement and Improve- 
ment of the idauslon and Grounds of Mount Vernon — 'I'lrie manifold 
Occupations of Mrs. Wushington — Her Industry, Method, Domestic 
Discipline, Personal Neatness, Courtesy and Conversation at Table, 
Regular Devolional Exercises — Mrs. Washington a Lady of the " Old 
School" — Complimentary Testimony of the Marquis de Chastelleux 
— The Grand-children of Mrs. Washington the Favorites of Mount 
Vernon — Numerous Visitors at Mount Vernon — Mrs. C. Maccauley 
Graham — The Marquis de La Fayette the Guest of Gen. and Mrs. 
Washington — Expectations of a Visit from the Marchioness — Lktter 
from Washington to Madame de La Fayette— The ?)Iarquis returns to 
Mount Vernon before leaving the Country — Proofs of the continued 
Friendship cherished by the distinguished Military Companions of 
the Commander-in-Chief — Her Husband continually associates Mrs. 
Washington with himself in his CorrespondtMice with his Friends — 
Few present traces of Mrs. Washington's Letters — liiustrative Ex- 
tract — Devotion of Gen. and Mrs. Washington to the Practical Du- 
ties of their Station— Their Self-Denial— Order for Plate counter- 
manded — Donation to a Literary Institution— Mrs. Wiishington'a 
Pleasure at the Adoption of tf.e Federal Coi.stitutiim by her Native 
Stale — Public Rejoicings in the City of Alexandria — Mrs. Washing- 
ton's Patriotism and Philanthropy 177 



CHAPTER IX. 

Election of Wasiiington to the Presidency — Mrs. Washinglon's Reluc- 
tance to leave Home— Lkttkr from Mrs. Washington to a Female 
Friend— .louriicy from Mount Vernon to the City of New York — 
The Bridge at Trenton and the Inau;ruration — Mrs. Washington in 
High Station— Proi)ri»:;ly of State and Ceremony in the Presidential 
Establishment —Mrs. Washington's Do-nestic Arrangements — Her 
Levees— The Levees and Dinners of the I'resident — State Dress of 
the President- i'.irlicular Ceremonies of the Nation:il Fete Days — 
Distinguishing Attention jtaid to Mrs. Montgomery and to Mrs. 
Green — Respect paid to the Sabbath by the President and Mrs. 
V/ashington — The Revolutionary Soldiers always welcomed to the 
Presidential Mansion— Mrs. V/ashingtou receives the Attention due 
to her exalted Position with proper Self-Respect— She never con- 
verses in Public upon Political Subjects— Mr. Washington passes a 



CONTENTS. 95 

PAGE 

Portion of each Summer at Mount Vernon— Still regardful of the In- 
terest and Improvement of her Grand-children — Preparations for the 
final Departure of President and Mrs. Washington from the Seat of 
Government — Leave-takings, and Bestowment of Tokens of Remem- 
brance and Regard 198 



CHAPTER X. 

Mrs. Washington returns permanently to Mount Vernon — Pleasing Re- 
sults of former Improvements there — The Domestic Happiness of 
Mrs. Washington and her Family — Sudden Illness of Washington — t 
The overwhelming Grief of Mrs. Washington— The Death of the 
Father of his Country — Mrs. Washington leaves, never to return, the 
Apartments she had occupied with her Husband — The Grief of a 
Nation — The Remains of Washington yielded to the Government 
— Mrs Washington's conlident Hope in the Eternal Felicity of her 
Husband — Her deep Grief and Christian Fortitude — Mrs. Washington 
continues her former Attention to the active Duties of Life — In her 
69th year — The Health of Mrs. Washington is undermined — She be- 
comes seriously 111 — She is conscious of her approaching Dissolu- 
tion — The Death-bed of Mrs. Washington — She calmly expires — 
Date of Mrs. Washington's Death — Her Place of Sepulture . . 216 



Appendix to Martha Washington ........ 229 



THE WIFE OF WASHINGTON. 



■^ « ■»■ 



CHAPTER I. 



Grace was in all her steps, heaven iu her eye, 

In every gesture, dignity and love. Popb. 



Our youthful summer oft we see 
Dance by on wings of game and glee, 
Whilst the dark storm resumes its rage. 

***** 
And such a lot, my theme, was thine. 
When thou, of late, wert doom'd to twine, — 
Just when the bridal wreath was by, — 
The cypress with the myrtle tie. Scott. 

The Illustrious Subject of the following 
Memoir, is ifirst presented to our attention in the 
interesting position of a youthful helle at the 
Court of the stately representative of British 
power and rule, within the limits of the proud, 
aristocratical and wealthy " Old Dominion.'' 

The charms of an agreeable person and a lovely 
face, enhanced by the superior fascination of 
winning manners and an amiable disposition, 



98 MEMOIR OF 

combined to render this fair representative of an 
ancient race, one of the most admired and be- 
loved of the many Hving flowers assembled dm'- 
ing the season of fashion, to grace the Colonial 
Court of Governor Dinwiddie. 

Martha Dandridge was born in the County 
of New Kent, in the Colony of Virginia, in May, 
1732. The long line of ancestors from whom she 
was descended, was originally represented in the 
Colony by the Rev. Orlando Jones, a Welsh 
gentleman, who early established himself on the 
banks of the Potomac. 

Miss Dandridge possessed only such artificial 
accomplishments as the system of domestic in- 
struction, then the sole means of female education 
in her native land, enabled her to acquire. But 
she was, happily, endowed by nature, with infi- 
nitely more essential qualifications for usefulness 
and happiness than these could supply — self- 
respect, good sense, gentleness of temper, a quick 
perception of propriety, and a ready power of 
self-adaptation to the exigencies and necessities 
of practical life. 

Though the celebrity early acquired, and the 
distinguished associations as early commenced by 
Miss Dandridge, were perpetuated through the 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 99 

accumulated years of a long and varied life, her 
career in the dazzling realms of fashion, was des- 
tined to be as evanescent as it was brilliant and 
agreeable. 

Won by the almost resistless power of a deep 
and discriminating attachment, — that most ex- 
quisitely delicate and expressive of compliments, — 
at the age of seventeen, before adulation and her 
unusual succes de societe had alloyed the ingen- 
uous simplicity, or diminished the buoyant en- 
thusiasm of her noble nature, 

" in the lustre of her youth, she gave 



Her hand, with her heart in it, to" — 

one of her numerous admirers, Colonel Daniel 
Parke Custis, a son of the Hon. John Custis of 
Arlington. 

Through her eventful life, it was the happy 
fate of this distinguished lady to be the object of 
warm and disinterested affection ; and this char- 
acteristic of her history was eminently illustrated 
by the attachment of Col. Custis, who, in opposi- 
tion to the more ambitious matrimonial designs 
of his father, — himself a King's Counsellor, and 
desirous of public honors for his son, — preferred 
the young and lovely Miss Dandridge to all the 



100 MEMOIR OP 

allurements of political distinction and unbounded 
wealth. 

The consent of the reluctant and ambitious 
King's Counsellor yielded, at last, to the firmness 
and ardor of manly constancy, the successful lover 
triumphantly bore away his fair prize, to his plan- 
tation in her native County of Kent. 

The residence of Col. Custis was situated on 
the shore of the Pamunkey River, and was known 
by the now peculiarly significant appellation of 
the " White House'' 

He was a highly prosperous planter, and a 
pleasing impersonation of the Virginia gentleman 
c" the old entime. Possessed of sterling integrity, 
and eminently gifted with the refined and elevated 
"sentiments so agreeably illustrated by the peculiar 
incidents connected with his matrimonial engage- 
ment, he was, also, endowed by nature with a 
h *nr rs generously liberal as his purse was ample 
and o\ oiilowing. Living in times when hospi- 
tality was not only practised as a duty and a 
V rtuc, but X ^garded as affording some of the most 
inn^: '^rt ana delightful gratifications of domestic 
life, his bountiful board was habitually spread, 
like those of the feudal lords of other days and 
other lands, not alone for numerous vassals and 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 101 

dependants, but in preparation for the cordial 
welcome equally awaiting the passing stranger 
and the expected friend. 

The obligations and responsibilities appertain- 
ing to the mistress of so extensive an establish- 
ment as that of the " White House," however 
agreeable in their nature, w^re necessarily, by no 
means either nominal or Ught. But she who had 
voluntarily and " nothing lotli," so early exchang- 
ed her youthful pleasures and her maiden free- 
dom for the cares and duties of an American 
Matron, readily and cheerfully assimilated her- 
self to her new position. 

And when the more interesting and important 
avocations of a mother were added to those of the 
wife of a Virginia country gentleman, the home 
in which Mrs. Custis presided continued to illus- 
trate the judicious system of household arrange- 
ment, the wise economy, order, and regularity for 
which she was through life so remarkable. 

To the friends whom she had known and loved 
in her girlhood, and who still continued to evince 
undiminished their former interest and regard, 
time only added nearer ties and more endearing 
associations, and 

" The wife, the mother, dearer than the bride," 



102 MEMOIR OF 

the sweet home-virtues long went hand in hand 
with Health, Peace, and Content, — the lovely 
graces of the fireside ! 

Thus, for some time, the halcyon days of the 
domestic felicity of Mrs. Custis glided uninter- 
ruptedly on. 

But never does earthly happiness continue un- 
alloyed ! Death entered, and desolated this Eden 
of Delio-ht ! 

The first victim of the destroyer was the hope 
and joy of his parents, — their eldest child, — 
whose unusual mental developments gave only 
too delusive and fleeting promise of the future. 

Soon after this melancholy event, Col. Custis 
(his malady incurably heightened by the eflects 
of overwhelming grief for the loss of his son,) 
sunk, prematurely, into the grave, when he had 
scarcely attained the prime of manhood ! 

With the painfully-touching proof of extraor- 
dinary sensibility afforded by the mournful cause 
of his early death, family tradition unites an 
anecdote illustrative of another prominent trait 
in the interesting character of Col. Custis : — " It 
is related of this amiable gentleman," says his 
brief biographer and immediate descendant, " that, 
when on his death-bed, he sent for a tenant, to 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 103 

whom, in settling an account, he was due one 
shiUing. The tenant begged that the Colonel, 
who had ever been most kind to his tenantry, 
would not trouble himself at all about such a 
trifle, as he, the tenant, had forgotten it long ago. 
" But I have not," rejoined the just and conscien- 
tious landlord, and bidding his creditor take up 
the coin, which had been purposely placed on his 
pillow, exclaimed, "Now my accounts are all 
closed with this world!" and shortly after ex- 
pired. 

Thus suddenly deprived, not only of the child 
whose existence had first awakened in her bosom 
the holy love and the lofty aspirations of a 
mother, but, of the friend and counsellor whose 
changeless affection had long made the sunshine 
of her life, and upon whom she had so implicitly 
relied for effective aid in the fulfilment of her 
solemn and momentous maternal duties, Mrs. 
Custis did not weakly abandon herself to useless 
lamentation, or helpless despair. Two children 
still survived to claim her care and affection ; 
and, after the first burst of impassioned and over- 
powering sorrow, — seeking strength for the effort 
where alone it could be found, in the promised 
aid of a chastening, but merciful Redeemer, — 



f 



104 MEMOIR OF 

she nerved herself for conscientious and perse- 
vering attention to duties and interests so pain- 
fully augmented and so mournfully and deeply 
important. 

Col. Custis gave the highest proof that the ro- 
mantic attachment and well-founded respect of 
early days remained undiminished through the 
lapse of years, by leaving to his widow the ex- 
clusive management and disposition, not only of 
her own pecuniary interests, but of those of her 
children. 

How triumphantly Mrs. Custis proved her 
ability for the task thus delegated to her, wdll be 
best told in the words of the same authority to 
which we have before referred. — " Independently 
of extensive and valuable landed estates, the Col- 
onel left thirty thousand* pounds sterling in 
money, with half that amount to his only daugh- 
ter Martha. * * * * # 

"Mrs. Custis, as sole executrix, managed the 

* Mr. Sparks states tliis suni to have been still larger. He 
says : — " Mr. Custis had left large landed estates in New Kent 
County, and forty-five thousand pounds sterling in money. One 
third part of this property she [Mrs. Custis,] held in her own 
right, the other two thirds being equally divided between her 
chUcb-en." — Sparks Life of Washington, vol. i, p. 105. 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 105 

extensive landed and pecuniary concerns of the 
estates with surprising abihty, making loans on 
mortgage, of moneys, and, through her stewards 
and agents, conducting the sales or exportation 
of the crops to the best possible advantage." 

If not as lightly and blissfully as of old, still 
peacefully and hopefully, time passed v^ith the 
widowed mother, w^hile engaged in these needful 
occupations, and in the most affectionate devo- 
tion to the education and happiness of her chil- 
dren, whom it was her sedulous endeavor to in- 
spire with a wish to emulate the virtues of their 
father ; — thus rendering just homage to his mem- 
ory, and suitably entitling them to the splendid 
worldly endowments and to the honorable name 
which were alike their proud inheritance. \ 



5* 



106 MEMOIR OF 



CHAPTER II. 



O, young Lochinvar is come out of the West, 

Through all the wide Border his steed was the best ; 

And save his good broadsword, he weapons had none, 

He rode all unarni'd, and he rode all alone. 

So faithful in love, and so dauntless in war, 

There never was knight like the young Lochinvar I Scott. 



And bright 
The lamps shone o'er fair women and brave men : 
A thousand hearts beat happily ; and when 
Music arose with its voluptuous swell. 
Soft eyes look'd love to eyes which spake again ! Byron. 

Beautiful, gifted, with great fascination of 
manner, unusually accomplished, extremely 
wealthy, youthful, and 

" Without any control, but the sweet one of gracefuhiess," 

it is not surprising, — the usual period of mourn- 
ing and seclusion passed, — that the hand of Mrs. 
CusTis was sought by many and ardent suitors. 

The " White House" became again the chosen 
abode of refined and graceful hospitality, and its 
fair and gentle mistress once more assumed her 
place in the elegant and distinguished circle, to 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 107 

the attractions of which her presence had for- 
merly made so agreeable an addition. 

But though participating with subdued cheer- 
fulness in the rational enjoyments of social life, 
and extending equal courtesy to all who came 
within the sphere of her magic influence ; yet a 
taste, refined, it might be even to fastidiousness, 
by prolonged and intimate association with one 
of the most amiable and honorable of men, was 
not easily satisfied. Nor would the heart that 
had been so entirely his, through many happy 
years of wedded love, readily yield itself to the 
keeping of another. 

" Oft slie rejects, but never once oflfends.'' 

Content in her singular freedom from authori- 
tative restraint, conscious of her ability to con- 
duct, unaided, her own business affairs, and those 
of her children, — young, lovely, admired, re- 
spected, — why should she exchange her felicitous 
independence for a protection, in her peculiar 
circumstances little better than nominal per- 
chance, or, at least, for many reasons, undesirable 
and unnecessary? The well-remembered virtues 
of his father would be the best guide of her son, 
and her ceaseless assiduity would obtain both for 



108 MEMOIR OF 

him and for his sister, every advantage that un- 
Hmited pecuniary resources and the most affec- 
tionate interest could unitedly secure. Why, 
then, either for their benefit, or for her own hap- 
piness, should their mother renounce her present 
name ? 

Governed by these numerous, weighty, and 
seemingly-conclusive reasons, the beautiful widow 
remained immovably relentless, while each ena- 
mored lover pressed, in turn, his glowing and dis- 
interested suit ! Eloquence did not shake her 
resolution, manly beauty and intelligence, pol- 
ished manners, high honor, — all were vain to 
ruffle the " waveless calm" of the unresponding 
heart, in whose peaceful depths lay enshrined — 
the treasures of memory I 

At length, by accident, there crossed her path, 
one, whose Star of Fame was already far in the 
ascendant in his native State ; a patriotic and 
distinguished citizen-soldier, who could tell 

" of most disastrous chances, 
Of moving accidents by flood and field, 
Of liair-breadtli 'scapes i' the imminent deadly breach, 
Of being taken by the insolent foe !"* 

* Our readers will consider the application of this last line as 
scarcely involving a poetic liceiise, when they recollect the fact 
recorded in the annexed passag^e : — ■ 



MARY WASHINGTON. 109 

His conversation, his manners, his appearance, 
combined to prove this interesting stranger no 
common mortal, no ordinary wooer ! Nature 
had stamped upon his powerful frame and majes- 
tic countenance an unmistakable impress of the 
mental power that dwelt within, and sealed his 
august brow, with 

" The stamp of Fate and fiat of a God !" 

Again and again the fascinated soldier sought 
the presence of the enchanting widow. Again 
and again he spontaneously acknowledged the 
winning power of her lithe and graceful form, her 
bright, expressive face, and the far more potent 
magic of her suave and benignant manners, her 
noble and disciplined intellect. And he, the vic- 
tor-crowned, — now himself subdued, — awaited his 
fate at the hand of the resistless charmer ! 

What w^onder, then, that the lofty resolve to 
preserve unchanged her womanly liberty, which 
was erst the high prerogative of Mrs. Custis, 

Lieutenant Col. Washington, " being joined soon after by the 
•residue of the regiment, and a few other troops, making an ag- 
gregate of somewhat less than four hundred men, they erected 
a small stockade fort ; here he was attacked by twelve hundred 
French and Indians, and after a brave resistance from ten in the 
morning until night, he capitulated." 

National Portrait Gallery. 



110 MEMOIR OF 

should, gradually, " melt into thin air," like the 
scrolled snow-wreath, beneath the ardent gaze of 
advancing Phoebus ! — 

" Airy messengers had sought, 



The rosy reahiis of Fancy thi-ough," 

and, with one accord, they yielded the palm of 
highest merit to the youthful Washington ! 

The favorite charger of the Hero of Mononga- 
hela, and his faithful Bishop,'^ in obedience to the 
high behest of their noble master, now often 
traced with him, the familiar way that conducted 
to the hospitable " White House." Long and 
often did the impatient war-steed await his time- 
unheeding rider; long and often did the assiduous 
attendant marvel at a forgetfulness of commands 
that on other occasions, sometimes anticipated 
even his prompt and exact punctuality. 

And now, all was in elegant and tasteful prepa- 
ration in the " White House," for the elaborate 
and splendid celebration of the approaching 
bridal. 

Numerous relatives and valued friends, aristo- 
cratic magnates of the " Old Dominion," stately 

* Each bequeathed him by the dying Braddock on the ill- 
starred field of his last battle. 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. Ill 

matrons, and dignified statesmen, the young, the 
beautiful, the brave, were assembled in honor of 
nuptials so signally auspicious, so brilliant and so 
felicitous. 

" Much hath the biographer* heard of that 
marriage, from gray-haired domestics, who waited 
at the board where love made the feast and 
Washington was the guest. And rare and high 
vvas the revelry, at that palmy period of Virginia's 
Festal age ; for many were gathered at that mar- 
riage of the good, the great, the gifted and the 
gay, while Virginia, with joyous acclamation, 
hailed in her youthful hero a prosperous and 
happy bridegroom." 

Imagination will better picture the pomp and 
splendor of this interesting scene than any de- 
scription of ours. Thus will our readers satis- 
factorily behold the fairest of Virginia's fair 
daughters, arrayed in the superb brocades, the 
costly laces, and sparkling jewels that the Old 
World alone could then supply; gallant cavaliers, 
in the elaborate and elegant costumes of the time ; 
the brilliant apartments, the bountiful board, glit- 
tering with massive plate, and loaded with sub- 

* We borrow the expressive language of the interesting 
annalist to whose authority we before referred. 






112 MEMOIR OF 

stantial viands, rich wines, and delicate conserves. 
Thus aided they may Usten to the gay conversa- 
tion, the merry song, the whispered words, the 
bhthesome laugh, the flashing wit, the inspiring 
music, each well befitting the occasion ; and 
watch 

" the docile footstep to the heave of the sweet measure, 

As music wafts the form aloft at its melodious pleasure, 

ISTow breaking through the woven chain of the entangled dance !" 

The same magic power will most successfully 
portray the grace, the loveliness, the tearful 
smiles, the glowing cheek of the Bride, when 
warm words and softened looks bespoke the cor- 
dial aspirations for her future happiness that 
swelled the hearts of her friends ; and the ani- 
mated countenance, the majestic mien, the undis- 
guised rapture of the triumphant and love-crowned 
Soldier. 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 313 



CHAPTER III. 



For still where the firm * « * * * 
And the stern, in sweet marriage is blent with the meek, 
Rings the concord harmonious, both tender and strong ; 

* * 4: ^ * * 

The heart to the heart flows in one, love delighted. Schiller. 



* * Woe to thy dream of delight ; 
In darkness dissolves the gay Irost-work of bliss ; 
Where now is the picture that Fancy touch'd bright? 

W. W. DiMOND. 



But lo ! a Congress ! What, that hallow'd name 

Which freed the Atlantic ? Byron. 



Soon after their union, which occurred, it is 
believed, in January, 1759, Colonel and Mrs. 
Washington removed from the " White House" 
to Mount Vernon, which continued thenceforth, 
to be the permanent family residence.* 

* Mount Vernon is in Faii-fax Co., Virginia. It is pleasantly 
situated on the south bank of the Potomac, nine nules below 
Alexandria and fifteen miles from Washington. It may interest 
some of our readers to learn the origin of the name of a spot 
now possessing so much celebrity. George "Washington in- 
herited this residence from his eldest brother, Lawrence, who 



114 MEMOIR OF 

The mansion then bearing this name, was 
much smaller than it afterwards became. It con- 
sisted only of the centre of the present buildino-, 
with but four rooms on the first tioor. Its owner 
had resided there for some years previous to his 
marriage, but JNIount Vernon was now, for the 
first time, graced by the presence of a mistress. 

We find many proofs, in his published papers 
and Correspondence, of the eftbrts made by Col. 
Washington to augment the comforts and multi- 
ply the embellishments of his home, after it 
received the fair and gentle inmate, whose hap- 
piness was, thenceforth, to be his peculiar care. 

Nor was his attention confined to matters 
appertaining merely to daily convenience, or 
general improvement, — it extended to all that 
could lend attractiveness to home-life, for the en- 
joyments of which the inhabitants of Mount 
Vernon mutually possessed an ardent love. 

" held a Captain's commission in the Provincial troops, employed 
in the celebrated attack against Carthagena, tmder Admiral 
Vernon. On his return, he settled on his patrimonial estate ; 
vrhich, thi-ough respect to his Admiral he called Mount Vernon." 
This gentleman died not long afterwards, bequeathing his estate 
to Ids only child, in case of whose deatli it was to descend to liis 
brother George, " with the reservation of the use of the same 
to the wife during her hfetimc." 



MARTHA WASHIXGTON. 115 

The following Memoranda of articles to be 
ordered from Europe, the originals of which were 
found by Mr. Sparks among Washington's papers, 
in his own hand-writing, will serve as passing 
indications of the refined and elegant taste that 
directed everj'thing within the precincts of the 
new abode of Mrs. Washington : — 

" DiRECTioxs FOR THE BusTs. — One of Alex- 
ander the Great; another of Julius Caesar; another 
of Charles XII. of Sweden ; and a fourth of the 
King of Prussia."* 

" N. B. These are not to exceed fifteen inches 
in height, nor ten in width." 

" 2 other Busts, of Prince Eugene and the Duke 
of Marlborough, somewhat smaller.'* 

" 2 Wild Beasts, not to exceed twelve inches in 
height, nor eighteen in length." 

" Sundry small ornaments for chimney-piece." 

We also find Col. Washington seeking, by im- 
portations from France and England, to adorn 
his plantation with the graceful drapery of the 

* How little did the writer imagine, when penning this order, 
that not many years later, his walls would be adorned by a 
portrait of the Great Frederick, sent him by that Monarch, and 
accompanied by the memorable words, " From the oldest Gen- 
eral in Europe, to the greatest General in the world !" 



116 MEMOIR OP 

blue hills of the " sunny South," and with the far- 
famed verdure of rural Albion. 

Our readers must bear in mind that, at the 
period to which our narrative refers, the various 
domestic arrangements, of which we have, very 
briefly, endeavored to convey an idea, were com- 
paratively unusual in the American Colonies ; 
and that not only all articles of luxury, but a very 
great proportion of the essentials of household 
convenience and daily comfort, were imported 
from Europe. It will thus be perceived, that 
what would now scarcely be regarded in the light 
of luxurious indulgences were then within the 
reach only of the most wealthy. Even the cloth- 
ing of his servants, and the ordinary implements 
of agriculture, as well as most articles of food, 
not the produce of his own plantation, w^ere twice 
every year ordered by Colonel Washington from 
his Endish ao;ents.* 

* We appeud a some^s^hat amusing List of articles imported 
from England about this time by Col. W., which was gleaned 
from the voluminous " Memoranda" published by the indispu- 
table authority to which we have before referred. By its pe- 
rusal the reader may, perhaps, gain some incidental information 
respecting the dress and domestic habits of Mrs. Washington, 
at this period of her history, together with vai-ious indications 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 117 

We may believe that the efficient and cheerful 
aid of Mrs. Washington was not wanting in the 
regulation and adornment of the new home to 
which she found herself transferred. 

We perceive, from the details of his " Life," 
that Col. Washington almost immediately as- 
sumed the pecuniary responsibilities devolving 
upon him in consequence of his marriage, to- 
gether with the guardianship of Mrs. Washing- 
ton's two children — a duty which he continued 
most faithfully and affectionately to discharge 
until they no longer required his care. 

We find in his Letters to his agents abroad, 
frequent references to the business affairs of Mrs. 
Washington, and of John and Martha Custis, 
each characterized by his usual precision, regu- 
larity, and conscientiousness. 

The following passages from one of these Let- 
ters will serve as illustrations of the efficient su- 
pervision exercised by this judicious friend, over 
the interests of the new members of his family : — 

of the degree of luxury and refinement characteristic of the 
system of life then prevalent among the more wealthy of the 
Virginia Planters. See Note A, of the Appendix. 



118 MEMOIR OF 

" To Robert Gary and Company, Merchants 

London. 

"Mount Yernon, 20 September, 1Y50. 

" Gentlemen, 

" This will make the fom'th letter I have writ- 
ten to you since my marriage with Mrs. Martha 
Gustis. The two first served to cover invoices of 
such goods as I wanted, and to advise you at the 
same time of the change in her affairs, and how 
necessary it would be to address, for the future, 
all your letters, which relate to the estate of the 
deceased Golonel Gustis, to me. 

vF vp T\- tP tS* vf* vp 

" I remark the pains you take to show the im- 
propriety of paying the duty of the estate's to- 
bacco. When money is wanting, it cannot be 
expected ; but, when a sum lies in your hands, it 
%hould certainly be applied that way, as far as it 
will go. I likewise observe the ditficulties you 
have met with in settlino- for the interest of the 
bank stock ; but I hope that is now over, unless 
any part or the whole should require transferring, 
(when a division of the estate is made,) and then 
timely notice will be given ; but, until this hap- 
pens, it may be received and placed to the es- 
tate's credit in the usual manner. 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 119 

" From this time it will be requisite, that you 
should raise three accounts ; one for me, another 
for the estate, and a third for Miss Patty Custis ; 
or, if you think it more eligible, (and I believe it 
will be,) make me debtor on my own account 
for John Parke Custis, and for Miss Martha 
Parke Custis, as each will have their part of the 
estate assigned them this fall, and the whole will 
remain under my management, whose particular 
care it shall be to distinguish always, either by 
letter or invoice, for whom tobaccos are shipped, 
and for whose use goods are imported, in order to 
prevent mistakes arising. The estate's credit 
now in your hands, may be applied towards an- 
swering the whole drafts, that have been and 
shall be made this year ; and it must appear very 
plain from my former letters, as well as from 
what is here said, how necessary it is to send reg- 
ular accounts current, that, by comparing them 
with the books here, satisfactory settlements may, 
from time to timCj be made to our General Court." 

But though thus relieved from the irksome and 
uncongenial employments incident to her previous 
mode of life, Mrs. Washington, doubtless, found 
sufficient occupation in the agreeable avocations 

\ 



120 MEMOIR OF 

involving the health, happiness, and education of 
her children ; and in a general superintendence 
of the affairs of her household, together with the 
many social obligations appertaining to her posi- 
tion. 

The present situation of Mrs. Washington 
closely resembled that to which she was accus- 
tomed during her former marriage. She was 
now, as she had previously been, the wife of a 
prosperous, enterprising Virginia Planter. For 
though still 

" Bearing his blushing honors thick upon liim," 

Col. Washington, for many successsive years, took 
no other part in public affairs than occasionally to 
act as a local magistrate, or as a Representative 
in the Provincial Legislature, of which he was a 
member for fifteen successive years, punctually 
attending each sitting, though there were, occa- 
sionally, three yearly. 

Col. Washington first assumed his seat in the 
Virginia House of Burgesses a short time subse- 
quent to his marriage ; and, if there was needed 
any public confirmation of the truth, that Mrs. 
Washington had united her fate with that of one 
of the bravest and most eminent of the sons of 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 121 

Virginia, it was aflbrded by the pleasing incidents 
recorded in the following paragraph : — 

" By a vote of the House, the Speaker, Mr. 
Robinson, was directed to return their thanks to 
Colonel Washington, on behalf of the colony, for 
the distinguished military services which he had 
rendered to his country. As soon as Colonel 
Washington took his seat, Mr. Robinson, in 
obedience to this order, and following the impulse 
of his own generous and grateful heart, dis- 
charged the duty with great dignity, but with 
such warmth of coloring and strength of expres- 
sion, as entirely confounded the young hero. 
He rose to express his acknowledgments for the 
honor ; but such was his trepidation and confu- 
sion, that he could not give distinct utterance to 
a single syllable. He blushed, stammered, and 
trembled for a second ; when the Speaker relieved 
him by a stroke of address, that would have done 
honor to Louis the Fourteenth in his proudest 
and happiest moment. 'Sit down, Mr. Wash- 
ington,' said he, with a conciliating smile ; ' your 
modesty equals your valor ; and that sur JHSses 
the power of any language that I poss-^ss.' "* 

* Wirt's Lite of Patrick Henet. 
6 



122 MEMOIR OF 

After the commencement of her residence at 
Mount Vernon, Mrs. Washington occasionally 
accompanied her husband in his various journeys 
and in his official visits at Williamsburg, — the 
scene of her early entrance into society, and of 
many of the pleasing associations of later years; 
but most of her time was passed at home in the 
care and education of her children, and in the 
midst of other congenial pleasures, occupations, 
and duties. 

Everywhere honored and beloved, she con- 
tinued to receive the affectionate and respectful 
regards of a large circle of attached and admiring 
friends, and to extend to each the most cordial 
and generous hospitality. Fortunately for both, 
she ever united with her husband in a genial 
enjoyment of this agreeable and graceful cour- 
tesy — so appropriate to their social position, and 
so consistent with their ample resources.* 

We are indebted to Mr. Sparks for a some- 
wha. minute sketch of several of the recipients of 
the hospiia Hies of Mount Vernon, at the time to 
which our narrative at present refers : — 

* "We learn from excellent authority, that an accession of 
more than one hundred thousand dollars was made to the for- 
tune of Col. "Washington by his maiTiage with Mrs. Custis. 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 123 

''Although Col. Washington's pursuits were 
those of a retired farmer, yet he was by no means 
secluded from social intercourse with persons of 
intelligence and refinement. During the periods 
of his attending the House of Burgesses at Wil- 
liamsburg, he met on terms of intimacy the 
eminent men of Virginia, who, in imitation of the 
Governors, (sometimes noblemen, and always from 
the higher ranks of English society,) lived in a 
style of magnificence, which has long passed 
away, and given place to the republican simpli- 
city of modern times. He was a frequent visitor 
at Annapolis, the seat of government of Mary- 
land, renowned as the resort of the polite, wealthy, 
and fashionable. At Mount Vernon he returned 
the civilities he had received, and practised, on a 
large and generous scale, the hospitality for which 
the Southern planters have ever been distin- 
guished. W^hen he was at home, a day seldom 
passed without the company of friends or stran- 
gers at the house. In his diaries the names of 
these visitors are often mentioned, and we find 
among them the Governors of Virginia and Mary- 
land, and nearly all the celebrated men of the 
southern and middle colonies, who were after- 
wards conspicuous in the history of the country." 



124 MEMOIR OF 

*• One of his nearest neighbors was George Ma- 
son, of Gunston Hall, a man possessing remark- 
able intellectual powers, deeply conversant with 
political science, and thoroughly versed in the 
topics of dispute then existing between England 
and America. Lord Fairfax was also a constant 
guest at Mount Vernon, who, although eccentric 
in his habits, possessed a cultivated mind, social 
qualities, and a perfect knowledge of the world. 
To these may be added a large circle of relatives 
and acquaintances, who sought his society, and 
to whom his house was always open." 

While alluding to the different sources of hap- 
piness enjoyed during this period of her life, by 
the estimable Subject of our Memoir, we should 
not omit particularly to mention the pure and ex- 
alted gratification springhig from her enlightened 
and systematic charity, from her conscientious 
attention to the numerous dependants immediately 
relying upon her care for health and comfort, 
and from her habitual and devout attention to the 
duties of religion.* 

* Both Col. and Mrs. Washington were at this time com- 
municants in the church of the parish of Truro, in which the 
family estate wag included, and upon the pubUc services of 
which they were constant attendants. Col. W. was, also, long 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 125 

Occupied by pleasures, employments, and duties 
of which we have thus endeavored to give our 
readers a passing idea, long did this excellent 
lady glide serenely and happily down the stream 
of time. 

As Miss Custis, the only daughter of Mrs. 
Washington, advanced towards womanhood, the 
tender maternal assiduity that so earnestly sought 
her improvement in all that could tend to pro- 
mote her happiness and usefulness in after life, 
was, if possible, still more devoted in its mani- 
festations. 

And when, at last, the child of so many hopes, 
the favored recipient of such accumulated care 
and tenderness, became the intelligent companion 
of the mother to whose guidance she owed so 
much, words are inadequate to express that 
mother's pride and joy. 

But Mrs. Washington was destined again to 
behold the cup of happiness pass, scarce tasted, 
from her lips. 

Miss Custis had no sooner attained maturity 
than she w^as snatched forever from the presence 
of her earthly friends. 

a vestryman of this church, and a most active and useful assist- 
ant in the management of its secular affairs. 



126 MEMOIR OF 

Who shall tell the sorrow of the bereaved and 
grief-stricken mother; the passionate lamenta- 
tion of the young brother who, hand in hand with 
this one gentle sister, had grown in health and 
beauty through so many happy years of genial 
and loving companionship ; or the deep sadness 
of the almost paternal guardian beneath whose 
fostering care her youthful mind had so pleasingly 
developed ? 

The melancholy event that thus, suddenly, 
robbed Mount Vernon of one of its brightest and 
most cherished ornaments, occurred in the year 
1770. 

Subsequent to this sad incident, for severe} 
successive years, nothing demanding particular 
notice arose to vary the usual routine of Mrs. 
Washington's existence. 

The tender sympathy that calms and soothes 
the wounded heart, beyond all else that earth can 
give, united with the dictates of religion to soften 
regrets which they could not remove, and 

" Time, that wears out the trace of deepest sorrow," 

witnessed a gradual diminution of the pervading 
and poignant grief that long shadowed the spirit 
of this mourning mother. 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 127 

At length, the distant murmurs of the approach- 
ing storm that served to render more dear the 
sanctity and the delights of home, reached ears 
all unwilling to receive the dreadful tidings they 
conveyed. Near, and yet more near, advanced 
the threatening clouds, till even the most incredu- 
lous were compelled to fear its fast-coming fury. 

Mrs. Washington was first fully awakened to a 
foreboding sense of the changes that awaited her, 
when her husband, obeying the summons of pa- 
triotism, hastened to join in the momentous public 
deliberations, upon the results of which hung con- 
sequences of so much present and prospective 
importance. Then, indeed, she became only too 
surely convinced that the master-spirit had de- 
parted from the home-paradise, within which, for 
seventeen successive years, there had so seldom 
entered the sin and suffering that make the alloy 
of all human happiness ! 



188 MEMOIR OF 



CHAPTER ly. 



Hark ! forth from the abyss, a voice proceeds, 

A long, low, distant murmur of dread sound, 

Such as arises when a Nation bleeds 

With some deep and immedicable wound. Byro». 



Should Heaven, yet unappeased, refuse its aid, 
Disperse our hopes, and frustrate our designs, 
Yet shall the conscience of the great attempt 
Diffuse a brightness on our future days ; 
Nor will his country^s groans reproach Demetrius. 



Johnson. 



When Col. Washington left Mount Vernon to 
attend the meeting of the first Congress at Phila- 
delphia, Mrs. Washington remained at home, 
participating, though at a distance, the interest 
and anxiety with which he discharged the various 
and peculiarly responsible duties which the Sol- 
dier OF America wtiS directly summoned to as- 
sume ; and watching with engrossing eagerness, 
for his reports of the highly interesting proceed- 
ings and deliberations of the solemn assemblage 
with which he was associated. 

When, after more than nine months of sepa- 
ration and solitude, she was informed of her hus- 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 129 

band's appointment as Commander-in-Chief of the 
American Army, and that " the war had actually 
begun" which must summon him to immediate 
action, the mingled nature of her emotions may 
be easily conceived. 

The first intelligence of this event was com- 
municated to Mrs. Washington in the following 
Letter, which possesses the more interest as it is 
the only one of the many addressed to her from 
the same source, that has descended to us.* 

" Philadelpliia, 18 June, 1115. 
" My Dearest : 

" I am now set down to write to you on a sub- 
ject, which fills me with inexpressible concern, 
and this concern is greatly aggravated and in- 
creased, when I reflect upon the uneasiness I 
know it will give you. It has been determined 
in Congress, that the whole army raised for the 
defence of the American cause shall be put under 
my care, and that it is necessary for me to pro- 
ceed immediately to Boston to take upon me the 
command of it. 

* It is known that Mrs. Washington, previous to her death, 
destroyed these precious testimonials of affection and confi- 
dence — unwilKng, it may be supposed, to allow other eyes than 
her own to trace the cherished records. 

6^ 



130 MEMOIR OF 

" You may believe me, my dear Patsy, when 1 
assure you, in the most solemn manner, that, so 
far from seeking this appointment, I have used 
every endeavor in my power to avoid it, not only 
from my unwillingness to part with you and the 
family, but from a consciousness of its being a 
trust too great for my capacity, and that I should 
enjoy more real happiness in one month with you 
at home, than I have the most distant prospect 
of finding abroad, if my stay were to be seven 
times seven years. But as it has been a kind of 
destiny, that has thrown me upon this service, I 
shall hope that my undertaking it is designed to 
answer some good purpose. You might, and I 
suppose did perceive, from the tenor of my let- 
ters, that I was apprehensive I could not avoid 
this appointment, as I did not pretend to intimate 
when I should return. That was the case. It 
was utterly out of my power to refuse this ap- 
pointment, without exposing my character to such 
censures, as would have reflected dishonor upon 
myself, and given pain to my friends. This, I 
am sure, could not, and ought not to be pleasing 
to you, and must have lessened me considerably 
in my own esteem. I shall rely, therefore, confi- 
dently on that Providence, which has heretofore 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 131 

preserved and been bountiful to me, not doubting 
but that I shall return safe to you in the fall. I 
shall feel no pain from the toil or the danger of 
the campaign ; my unhappiness will flow from 
the uneasiness I know you will feel from being 
left alone. I therefore bes that vou will summon 
your whole fortitude, and pass your time as agree- 
ably as possible. Nothing will give me so much 
sincere satisfaction as to hear this, and to hear it 
from your own pen. My earnest and ardent de- 
sire is, that you would pursue any plan that is 
most likely to produce content, and a tolerable 
degree of tranquillity ; as it must add greatly to 
my uneasy feelings to hear that you are dissatis- 
fied or complaining at what I really could not 
avoid. 

" As life is always uncertain, and common pru- 
dence dictates to every man the necessity of set- 
thng his temporal concerns, while it is in his 
power, and while the mind is calm and undis- 
turbed, I have, since I came to this place, (for I 
had no time to do it before I left home,) got Col- 
onel Pendleton to draft a will for me, by the di- 
rections I gave him, which will I now enclose. 
The provision made for you in case of my death, 
will, I hope, be agreeable. 



132 MEMOIR OF 

" I shall add nothing more, as 1 have several 
letters to write, but to desire that you will re- 
member me to your friends, and to assure you 
that I am, with the most unfeigned regard, my 
dear Patsy, 

" Your affectionate 

" George Washington."^ 

The contents of this letter, will, far more ef- 
fectually than any comments of ours, convey to 
our readers a just conception of the considerate 
and affectionate respect always paid by the illus- 
trious PATER PATRIAE to the wishes, feelings, and 
comfort of the celebrated Subject of our Memoir. 

Though there is no allusion in this epistle to 
the possibility of Mrs. Washington's accompany- 
ing the Commander-in-Chief in his journey to 
Cambridge, nor to the prospect of even a brief 
reunion after this, their first protracted separa- 
tion, yet it was subsequently determined that 
they should, temporarily at least, be relieved from 
the mutual pain of absence, as will be explained 
by the following passage from a letter addressed 
by Washington to his brother. 

* Sparks' Writings of Washington. 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 133 

"Camp at Cambridge, 13 October, I'lTS. 
" Dear Brother : 

" I am obliged to you for your advice to my 
wife, and for your intention of visiting her. 
Seeing no great prospect of returning to my 
family and friends this winter, I have sent an in- 
vitation to Mrs. Washington to come to me, al- 
though I fear the season is too far advanced to 
admit this with any tolerable degree of conveni- 
ence, especially if she should, when my letters 
get home, be in New Kent, as I believe the case 
will be. I have laid before her a statement of 
the difficulties, however, w^hich must attend the 
journey, and left it to her own choice."* 

There is no reference in this Letter to any ap- 
prehension, on the part of her husband, of danger 
to Mrs. Washington, should she remain at Mount 
Vernon, but fears for her safety were entertained 
by many of her friends, as we learn from the 
subjoined extract from Sparks' '•' Writings op 
Washington :" — 

"As the General could not leave the army, he 
had requested Mrs. Washington to pass the win- 

* Sparks' Writings of Washington. 



134 MEMOIR OF 

ter with him at Cambridge. It seems, that some 
persons thought her in danger at Mount Vernon, 
which stands on the bank of the Potomac River, 
and is accessible to armed ships of the largest 
size. Lund Washington had written to the Gen- 
eral : — ' Many people have made a stir about 
Mrs. Washington's continuing at Mount Vernon, 
but I cannot think there is any danger. The 
thought, I believe, originated in Alexandria; 
from thence it got to Londoun, and I am told the 
people of Londoun talk of sending a guard to con- 
duct her up to Berkeley, with some of their prin- 
cipal men to persuade her to leave this place, and 
accept their offer. Mr. John Augustine Wash- 
ington wrote, pressing her to leave Mount Ver- 
non. She does not believe herself in danger. 
Lord Dunmore will hardly himself venture up this 
river ; nor do I believe he will send on that er- 
rand. Surely, her old acquaintance, the attorney, 
who, with his family, is on board his ship, would 
prevent his doing an act of that kind. You may 
depend I will be watchful, and upon the least 
alarm persuade her to remove.' " 

In accordance with the wishes of her husband, 
Mrs. Washington hastened to make preparations 
for joining him at Cambridge for the winter. 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 135 

Upon her arrival at Philadelphia, on her way 
to the scene of her new duties, she was met and 
escorted into the city by Col. Hancock and other 
officers, and the " Light Infantry of the Second 
Battalion, and the company of Light Horse, &c." 

In addition to these public demonstrations of 
respect, Mrs. Washington was welcomed by 
every proof of individual regard and personal af- 
fection on the part of her numerous friends. 
She immediately received an invitation to attend 
a public Ball which was in contemplation, and 
which it was hoped the Ladies of the Commander- 
in Chief and of Col. Hancock would honor with 
their presence. 

Mrs. Washington was fated thus early in her 
new career, to realize that Persecution, like his 
twin-compeer, "loves a shining mark," and that, 
during the commotion of public feeling which was 
already beginning to surge and swell, she must 
prepare to meet the popular tumult, manifesta- 
tions of which would, thenceforth, occasionally 
reach even to her. 

Before the evening appointed for the intended 
fete arrived, fears were entertained that the anti- 
cipated festivities would be disagreeably inter- 
rupted, and that the tranquillity of the city might 



130 MEMOIR OF 

oe seriously disturbed by an occurrence, under 
ordinary circumstances so unioiportant to the 
populace. 

Accordingly, there was a numerous meeting of 
the most respectable citizens, at Philosophic Hall, 
" for the purpose of considering the propriety of 
allowing the ball to be given." — After much 
serious deliberation, it was finally concluded that 
no such entertainment should take place, either 
then, or " in future, while these troublesome times 
continued." 

This meeting resulted in the appointment of a 
committee, whose duty it should be to desire the 
managers of the intended Ball to relinquish their 
design, and, also, to wait upon Mrs. Washington 
with the request that she should decline any par- 
ticipation in the affair. 

It was understood that Mrs. Washington readi- 
ly assented to the wishes- of the gentlemen who 
called on her on this occasion, assured them of 
the entire accordance of her feelings with their 
own, in relation to the matter, and politely ex- 
presse her acknowledgments for the kind at- 
tention that had secured her against embarrass- 
ment and annoyance.* 

* For the quaint version of tliis s ingular illustration of popu- 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 137 

After enjoying the society of her friends for a 
few days, and, at the same time, refreshing her- 
self with needful rest from the fatigue of her 
already long and laborious journey, Mrs. Wash- 
ington left Philadelphia,* on her way to New 
England, " attended by the Troop of Horse, two 
companies of Light Infantry, &c., &c." 

The anxious and affectionate care with which, 
despite his engrossing public duties, the Com- 
mander-in-Chief endeavored to secure the safety 
and comfort of Mrs. Washington, during her 
journey to the American Camp, is proved by the 
frequent references to the subject contained in his 
letters. Thus, in a letter to his Military Secre- 
tary, Joseph Reed, Esq., we find the following 
passage, under date^ of the 20th of November : — 

" I thank you for your frequent allusions to 
Mrs. Washington. I expect that she will be 
in Philadelphia about the time this letter may 
reach you, on her way hither. As she and her 
conductor, who I suppose will be Mr. Custis, her 
son, are perfect strangers to the road, the stages, 
and the proper place to cross Hudson's River, by 

lar feeling given in "Christopher Marshall's Diary of lIlS," 
see Note B., of the Appendix. 
* 2'7th November, 1116. 



138 MEMOIR OF 

all means avoiding New York, I shall be much 
obliged by your particular instructions and advice 
to her. I imagine, as the roads are bad, and the 
weather cold, her stages must be short, especially 
as I presume her horses will be fatigued ; as when 
they get to Philadelphia, they will have performed 
a journey of at least four hundred and fifty miles, 
my express having found her among her friends, 
ner Williamsburg, one hundred and fifty miles 
below our house." 

Mrs. Washington reached Cambridge in safety 
on the 11th December, having accomplished the 
journey from Philadelphia in about fifteen days. 
She was soon comfortably established in the ele- 
gant mansion of one of the wealthy Tory families, 
who deserted their residences upon the approach 
of the Continental Army. The American officers, 
generally, took possession of these luxurious 
abodes, thus — and then only during the continu- 
ance of the War, — "faring sumptuously every 
day." 

After Mrs. Washington's arrival in the Ameri- 
can Camp, the punctilious courtesy of the Com- 
mander-in-Chief dictated the following expression 
of his sense of grateful obligation to the many 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 139 

friends whose kind attentions she had eUcited 
during her journey. 

" To Joseph Reed, Esa. 

" Camp, December 25th, 1715. 
" Dear Sir : 

****** 

" I am so much indebted for the civiUties shown 

Mrs. Washington on her journey hither, that I 

hardly know how to go about to acknowledge 

them. Some of the enclosed (all of which I beg 

the favor of you to put into the post-office,) are 

directed to that end. I shall be obliged to you 

for presenting my thanks to the commanding 

officers of the two battalions of Philadelphia, for 

the honors done her and me, as also to any others 

equally entitled. I very sincerely offer you the 

compliments of the season, and wish you, Mrs. 

Reed, and your fireside, the happy return of a 

great many of them, being, dear Sir, 

" Your most obedient and 

" Affectionate humble servant, 

" George Washington.'** 

It would of course, be irrelevant to our subject, 
as well as a work of supererogation, to attempt 

* Life and Coerespondence of President Reed. 



140 MEMOIR OF 

a detailed account of the memorable siege and 
eventual evacuation of Boston. 

Mrs. Washington, while participating in the 
harassing embarrassments that, almost directly 
upon the assumption of his new position, began to 
demand the sympathy she always exhibited in 
w^hatever affected either the interest or happiness 
of her husband, was now called upon to illustrate 
in relation to him, as she had ever done in every 
personal trial and affliction, her firm reliance upon 
the beneficent superintendence of overruling Wis- 
dom and Goodness. Even in this early stage 
of his eventful military career, her habitual cheer- 
fulness and practical abilities, served in many 
instances, essentially to aid and encourage the 
Commander-in-Chief. 

The agreeable and estimable qualities of the wife 
of the American Hero soon won for her the love 
and veneration of her husband's companions in 
arms, and her universal popularity among them, 
occasioned her receiving the appellation of ''Lady 
Washington/' the well-known title by which she 
was always afterwards distinguished in the Ameri- 
can Army. 

With the departure of the British Fleet from 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 141 

the Harbor of Boston,*' Mrs. Washington pre- 
pared to return to her long-deserted home, — the 
portentous aspect of military affairs warning her 
of the impracticability of remaining with the 
Commander-in-Chief during the season of actual 
hostilities. 

In addition to her parting from her husband, 
this affectionate mother was, also, necessitated to 
nerve herself for a separation from her son, who 
was already pledged to share the military fortunes 
of his beloved step-father. — For usefulness and 
honor she had reared him to manhood, and to her 
country she now resigned this last lingering scion 
of maternal hope and joy.f 

* llth March, 1116. 

•(• Whether or not Mr. Custis was already one of the military 
family, strictly speakmg, of the Commander-in-Chief, we have 
not the means of determining ; but we know him, together with 
Mrs, Custis, to have accompanied his mother to Cambridge, to 
have been at the siege of Boston, and to have continued with 
Washington throughout the war, though he probably did not, 
in consequence of his youth, thus early receive the appointment 
of Aid-de-Camp to the General-in-Chie£ 



142 MEMOIR OP 



CHAPTER V. 



Employ'd she employs ; 



Locks the chest and the wardrobe, with lavender smelling', 

And the hum of the spindle goes quick through the dwelling; 

And she hoards in the presses, well polished and full, 

The snow of the linen, the shine of the wool ; 

Blends the sweet with the good, and from care and endeavor 

Rests never ! Schiller. 



While duty measures the regard it owes 

With scrupulous precision and nice justice, 

Love never reasons, but profusely gives — 

Gives, like a thoughtless prodigal, its all, 

And trembles then, lest it has done too little. More. 



Mrs. Washington sought the security and se- 
clusion of Mount Vernon, not to indulge in vain 
repinings at her separation from its master and 
from her only child, nor to yield herself up to the 
unworthy dominion of useless fears for their per- 
sonal safety and well-being ; but to find in active 
and needful occupation, and in care for the hap- 
piness of others, the best guarantee afforded by 
circumstances, for the preservation of her mental 
serenity. 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 143 

That knowledge of practical life, and that sin- 
gular facility for adapting herself to avocations 
unusual to her sex, which she had exhibited dur- 
ing her widowhood, were now again called into 
exercise by the peculiar situation in which Mrs. 
Washington found herself placed. She immedi- 
ately established a domestic system thoroughly 
adapted to the exigencies of the times, and emi- 
nently calculated as an example most beneficially 
to influence others. Her dress, — always remark- 
able for its simplicity, — was soon composed al- 
most entirely of home-made materials, as was 
the clothing of her numerous domestics. 

We have her own authority for the fact that 
" she had a great deal of domestic cloth made in 
her house," and that " sixteen spinning-wheels 
were kept in constant operation" at Mount Ver- 
non. One one occasion, when conversing with 
some friends upon this and similar topics, she gave 
the best proof of her success in domestic manu- 
factures by the exhibition of two of her dresses, 
which were composed of cotton striped with silk, 
and entirely home-made. The silk stripes in the 
fabric were woven from " the ravellings of brown 
silk stockings and old crimson damask chair- 
covers !'* 



144 MEMOIR OF 

Momentarily to anticipate in our narrative ; — 
when Washington arrived at New York to as- 
sume his duties as first President of the United 
States, he was attired in a complete suit of home- 
spun cloth. 

By the judicious and admirable simplicity and 
economy she systematically practiced, this exem- 
plary Revolutionary matron secured the means, 
not only of personal and domestic comfort, 
convenience, and independence, but of the bene- 
volent diffusion of more generally extended 
benefit. 

It must not be supposed, however, that these 
household avocations and duties were sufficient 
to engross, or content, one whose interest in the 
progress of public events was so painfully aug- 
mented by her intimate connection with the mas- 
ter-spirit upon whose wisdom and guidance hung 
the destiny of his country. 

Mrs. Washington was, doubtless, kept well and 
promptly advised not only of the momentous 
events that followed each other in such rapid and 
startling succession, during the ever-memorable 
year succeeding the siege of Boston, but of the 
individual adventures and personal feelings and 
apprehensions of her husband. The assevera- 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 145 

tions and fears expressed in the following sen- 
tences were, probably, often repeated in Wash- 
ington's frequent letters to this sympathizing re- 
cipient of his confidence : — " I am wearied to 
death with the retrograde motion of things, and 1 
solemnly protest that a pecuniary reward of 
twenty thousand pounds would not induce me 
to undergo what I do."* " In a word, if every 
nerve is not strained to recruit the new army 
with all possible expedition, the game is nearly 

Only a wile as devoted as Mrs. Washington, 
can fully appreciate her emotions of indignation 
and abhorrence, when made acquainted with the 
happily-discovered treachery that aimed at the 
personal safety of The Commander-in-Chief, ana 
the success of which would have dealt a death- 
blow to the prosperity of the American Cause. 
Only such a one can realize the pride and pleas- 
ure that swelled in her heart, when informed of 
the glorious passage of the Delaware, and of the 
encouraging success of which that skilful manoe- 

* Washington to his Brother, 19th Nov. 1776 — Sparks' Writ- 
ings OF Washington. 

f Washington to his Brother, 18th Dec. 1776 — Life and 

COEEESPONDENCE OF PRESIDENT ReED. 

7 



146 MEMOIR OF 

uvre was the immediate precursor ; or paint the 
harrowing anxiety with which she awaited fur- 
ther intelhgence respecting the movements of the 
little Continental Army ; and her delight when 
certain of the temporary cessation of active hos- 
tihties, and of the consequent safety of those most 
dear to her. But why attempt to particularize 
among incidents, each of which w^as necessarily 
invested with such vital importance for this ten- 
der Mother, this sympathizing Wife, this patriotic 
American Matron ! 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 147 



CHAPTEE YI. 



To paint that being to a grovelling raind 

Were like portraying pictures to the blind. 

'Twas needful e'en infectiously to feel 

Her temper's fond and firm and gladsome zeal, 

To share existence with her, and to gain 

Sparks from her love's electrifying chain, 

Of that pure pride, which lessening to her breast 

Life's ills, gave all its joys a treble zest, 

Before the mind completely understood 

That mighty truth — how happy are the good ! Campbell. 



When the American Commander-in-Chief, af- 
ter ten months of incessant exertion, fatigue, and 
responsibility that succeeded their parting, im- 
mediately subsequent to the evacuation of Boston, 
had finally conducted his worn and weary Army 
into winter quarters, at Morristown, in New 
Jersey,* Mrs. Washington, anxious for his health 
and comfort as well as for those of her son, lost 
no time in repairing thither to join him in the 
Camp for the remainder of the season. 

It became, thenceforth, during the continuance 
of the War of the Revolution, Mrs. Washington's 
* Jaa 1111. 



148 MEMOIR OF 

habitual practice to pass her winters at the Head- 
quarters of the American Army. It was, con- 
sequently, her ^vont to say, in after life, that " she 
had heard the first cannon at the opening and the 
last at the closing of all the campaigns of the 
Revolution !" 

Many passages in the private Letters of Wash- 
ington express his affectionate interest on the 
subject of Mrs. Washington's long and hazardous 
journeys at the inclement season of the year 
when they were, necessarily, undertaken. We 
find him writing to ask advice as to the best 
means of promoting her safety and comfort, or 
requesting assistance in effecting her transit from 
Mount Vernon to him, and again, expressing his 
thanks for the many civihties extended to her 
on such occasions by friends whose personal and 
patriotic devotion, no considerations of policy or 
prudence could vary or diminish. 

Mrs. Washington's journeys to the American 
Camp were always performed in her own carriage 
and attended by her own servants. It was, also, 
the invariable practice of the Commander-in- 
Chief, to dispatch one of his Aids-de-Camp to 
escort her from Mount Vernon to his Winter 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 149 

quarters.* We infer, that on some of these oc- 
casions, at least, he adopted the additional pre- 
caution to dispatch a band of soldiers, the more 
eftectually to insure her protection, as we are 
told that in one instance, when travelling, Mrs. 
Washington's chariot was attended by ten dra- 
goons, and that, at another time, her departure 
from Philadelphia was accompanied by two mili- 
tary companies. 

The example of the wife of the American 
General-in-Chief, in passing the winters with her 
husband in his Camp quarters, was generally 
imitated by the wives of the principal officers of 
the Continental Army : and her arrival soon 
came to be regarded as a sisjnal for the assem- 
blage of the fair ministering spirits whose pres- 
ence lent a charm even to hardship and danger. 

The foUowincr anecdote, for which, as well as 
for some other details, we are indebted to the ele- 
gant and highly entertaining volumes of Mrs. 
Ellet, will serve to illustrate the unwearying and 
affectionate zeal with which Mrs. Washington 
was herself befriended by those towards whom 

* As one of the MOitary Family of Washington, yre may sup- 
pose that a duty, for many reasons so peculiarly agreeable to him, 
was, at least occasionally, delegated to CoL Custis. 



150 MEMOIR OF 

she was so ready to exhibit the most substantial 
proofs of her regard and interest : — 

There were but two frame houses in the 
settlement (where Washington had established 
his Winter quarters) and neither had a finished 
upper story. The General was contented with 
his rough dwelHng, but wished to prepare for his 
wife a more retired and comfortable apartment. 
He sent for the young mechanic, who was himself 
many years afterwards the narrator of the inci- 
dent, and desired him and one of his fellow- 
apprentices to fit u]) a room in the upper story for 
the accommodation of Lady Washington through 
the winter. She herself arrived before the work 
was commenced. " She came," says the military 
carpenter, " into the place — a portly-looking, 
agreeable woman of forty-five, and said to us : 
* Now, young men, I care for nothing but com- 
fort here ; and should like you to fit me up a 
beaufet on one side of the room, and some shelves 
and places for hanging clothes on the other.' We 
went to work with all our might. Every morning 
about eleven, Mrs. Washington came up stairs 
with a glass of spirits for each of us; and after 
she and the General had dined, we were called 
down to eat at their table. We worked very hard, 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 151 

nailing smooth boards over the rough and worm- 
eaten planks, and stopping the crevices in the 
walls made bv time and hard usaa^e. We then 
consulted together hov/ we could smooth the un- 
even floor, and take out, or cover over some of the 
huge black, knots. We studied to do everything 
to please so pleasant a lady, and to make some 
return in our humble way, for the kindness of the 
General. On the fourth day, when Mrs. Wash- 
ington came up to see how we were getting along, 
we had finished the work, made the shelves, put 
up the pegs in the wall, built the beaufet, and con- 
verted the rough garret into a comfortable apart- 
ment. As she stood looking round, I said, ' Mad- 
am, we have endeavored to do the best we 
could; I hope we have suited you.' She replied, 
sm.ilincv, ' I am astonished ! vour work would do 
honor to an old master, and you are mere lads. 
I am not only satisfied, but highly gratified by 
what vou have done for mv comfort.' " 

Those who had the happiness to be able to 
speak and write from personal knowledge, bore 
the most unequivocal and emphatic testimony to 
the benign influence diflused through the Camp 
by the welcome presence of " Lady Washing- 
ton." Her cheerfulness and equanimity were 



152 MEMOIR OF 

happily and habitually displayed, even in the most 
trying circumstances, and exerted over the minds 
of all who were so fortunate as to share her friend- 
ship, or participate in her benevolent cares, the 
most beneficial effect. 

" And to know her well 



Prolong'd, exalted, bound, enchantment's spell ; 
For with affections warm, intense, refined, 
She mix'd such calm and holy strength of mind. 
That, like heaven's image in the smiling brook, 
Celestial peace was pictured in her look. 
Her's was the brow, in trials unperplex'd. 
That cheer'd the sad, and tranquillized the vex'd ; 
She studied not the meanest to eclipse. 
And yet the wisest listened to her lips." — 

She submitted with the utmost patience to per- 
sonal privation and hardship, and did the honors 
of her homely camp abode with all the grace and 
urbanity that had formerly distinguished the mis- 
tress of the White House and of Mount Vernon. 
Her unwavering religious faith and her perpetual 
serenity and good humor, not only contributed 
materially to the general good, but were of great 
service to her husband individually. The Com- 
mander-in-Chief, both by word and action, gave 
ample proof that the habits of military life were 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 153 

far from diminishing his affection for the com- 
panion of more genial hours, or his just apprecia- 
tion of the advantages arising to himself from her 
society. As an illustration in point, some of our 
readers will recollect, that, when on one occasion, 
while this courageous woman and her fair com- 
panions still remained in their martial homes, and 
there was a sudden apprehension that " the enemy'' 
were rapidly approaching, Washington resisted 
the proposition made by his military friends, to 
send the ladies away under an escort ; — saying, 
" The presence of our wives will better encourage 
us to a brave defence !" 

" Lady Washington's" time and attention dur- 
ing each of the many seasons of her residence 
with the Army — apart from the dearer duties and 
obligations arising out of her reunions with her 
husband and son — were chiefly devoted to the 
humane purposes of benefiting and relieving the 
suffering soldiers. She visited the sick, minister- 
ed to their wants, and poured that sympathy 
which is the " oil of joy" into their desponding 
hearts. She is described by those who witnessed 
and partook her efforts, as having been unwaver- 
ing in her zeal and earnestness in this, her noble 
and womanly purpose. No danger delayed, no 

7* 



154 MEMOIR OF 

difficulty or hardship prevented the fulfihuent of 
these benevolent duties. Blessings and prayers 
followed the departure of this beneficent spirit 
from among the recipients of her kindness and 
bounty, and the most heartfelt delight hailed her 
return ! 

Nor were the winters thus passed by this esti- 
mable wife and mother wholly wanting in other 
sources of merely personal enjoyment, than those 
arising from her constant association with the 
objects of her deepest affections. She became 
closely and confidentially connected with the noble 
and heroic women, who, like herself, were pledged 
to the service of their country — those private de- 
fenders of the Cause of Liberty, whose dearest 
interests, w^hose highest hopes, whose all, in short, 
of earthly happiness was involved in the issue of 
passing events. 

The friendships thus fostered by propinquity, 
and cemented by strong congeniality of senti- 
ment and interest, as well as by the bond of 
common danger and suffering, in addition to the- 
present sympathy and enjoyment to which they 
gave rise, were among the most cherished pleas- 
ures of Mrs. Washington's subsequent life. 

When separated from these valued friends by 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 155 

the vicissitudes of the active campaigns, in which 
during each season the nearest relatives of all 
were equally engaged and endangered, it was the 
solace and stratification of each, bv a constant 
correspondence, not only to maintain their mu- 
tual remembrance and affection, but to uphold 
and encourage each other in the Good Cause, by 
a more zealous esprit du corps than ever cemented 
the secret compact of 

" a band of brothers joined !"* 



It is to be much regretted that only detached 
fragments of Mrs. Washington's correspondence 
have been preserved to the present day. The 
following extract from an epistle addressed by her 

* Our fair readers must not suppose that " Lady Washing- 
ton," or any other lady of her day, enjoyed dui'ing the Revolu- 
tion, the advantages of a regular, safe, systematic PostOflSce 
arrangement. This was far enough fi'om being the case. Not 
imfrequently the Commander-in-Chief, in addition to his other 
multitudinous avocations, acted as Post-Master General for his 
female friends and their lords or lovers. — But, in spite of chance 
accidents, difficulties, and delays, the active minds that were 
roused to such high tension by the powerful stimulus of the 
times, found passing relief and amusement in this agreeable 
mode of interchanging sentiment, feelings, and more particular 
intelligence in relation to matters and occurrences generally and 
individually interesting. 



1§6 MEMOIR OF 

to a female friend, will serve to indicate the spirit 
by which she was habitually actuated in similar 
circumstances : — 

" It gives me unspeakable pleasure to hear that 
General Burgoyne and his army are in safe quar- 
ters in your State. Would bountiful Providence 
aim a like blow at General Howe, the measure of 
my happiness would be complete !" 

In addition to much pleasing intercourse wdth 
her own sex, it was the good fortune of this patriot 
wife to enjoy the friendship and society of her 
husband's most distinguished military companions. 
It was her high privilege to share in their councils, 
and imbibe their exalted sentiments, to participate 
in their self-denial, their zeal, their enthusiasm, 
and their courage ! There w^ere Steuben, Ro- 
chambeau. La Fayette, Kosciusko, and a host of 
heroes " to the manor born," — Knox, and Greene, 
and Putnam, and Moultrie, and Hamilton, and 
many others, of less note, perchance, but lofty 
and glorious spirits all, amidst whom, as one en- 
shrined by yet higher purpose and yet more 
august intellect, 

" in shape and gesture proudly eminent, 
Stood like a tower" 

the beloved and illustrious pater patriae with 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 157 

whom it was her pride and happiness to be united 
by ties so tender, so endearing, and so blessed ! 

Thus, then, though surrounded by discomfort, 
subjected to trials, sorrows, and sufferings, called 
to witness and to partake apprehensions, cares, 
and responsibilities, in their results at once the 
most engrossing and the most important, it was 
to those portions of her existence which were 
passed in the Camp of the heroic Army of the 
Revolution, that Mrs. Washington could, in after 
years, revert, as having afforded some of the 
happiest hours of her life ! — hours of enjoyment 
so pure, so exalted, so spiritual, that there was 

" — ' less of earth in them than Heaven 1" 



158 MEMOIR OP 



CHAPTER YII. 



The field of freedom, faction, fame, and blood : 

Here a proud people's passions were exhaled, 

From the first hour of empire iu the bud. Byron. 



If the consciousness of perpetual endeavor .to advance our race 

be not alone happier than the life of ease, let us see what this vaunted 
ease really is. Tell me, is it not another name for ennui ? This state of 
quiescence, this objectless, dreamless torpor, this transition dii lit a la 
table, de la table au lit; what more dreary and monotonous existence can 
you devise 1 Is it pleasure in this inglorious existence to think that you 
ai'e serving pleasure 1 Is it freedom to be the slave of self ? 

PlLUKIMS OF THK RhINK. 



We resume our somewhat interrupted narrative 
of the events of Mrs. Washington's life, with 
that of her return to Mount Vernon, in the Spring 
of 1777, after her first thorough initiation into 
the hardships, privations, and sufferings of the 
American Camp, during the winter passed by her 
in the log hut that constituted her abode at Mor- 
ristown. 

This interval of leisure for home duties and 
avocations, was, much of it, passed, like that of 
the previous season, in arrangements for the well- 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 159 

being of the relatives and domestics dependent 
upon her care and guidance. 

We gather from the private Correspondence of 
Washington, that he maintained, throughout his 
protracted absence from home, the general super- 
vision and direction of affairs relative to his plan- 
tation ; but it will readily be supposed that the 
skill and judgment displayed by this eminently- 
practical woman, when she was but little more 
than twenty years of age, in the exclusive man- 
agement of a large landed estate, were now of 
most essential service in promoting the proper 
management of all out-of-door matters, as well as 
of those of a merely household character. The 
gloomy aspect of public affairs rendered the pros- 
pect of her husband's ability to resume the per- ^ 
sonal care of his private aiTairs more and more 
remote and uncertain, and Mrs. Washington was, 
consequently, impressed with the necessity of so 
regulating her family arrangements as to supply, 
in a degree, at least, the place of their absent 
master to those employed in his service, or de- 
pendent upon his bounty. 

When winter approached, this heroic and de- 
voted wife was prepared again to return to the 
companionship of her husband, and to re-assume 



160 MEMOIR OF 

the interesting and benevolent offices she had 
appropriated to herself. 

This was, as our readers will remember, the 
terrible winter of 1777-78, which witnessed the 
frightful sufferings of our Army at Valley Forge, 
where, " while tlie foe were luxuriating in the 
comfortable quarters of a populous and luxurious 
city, the Americans were sheltered in huts of 
their own fabrication, and frequently suffering the 
extremity of want."* 

The following brief passage from one of Mrs. 
Washington's letters, written at this time, con- 
tains a passing description of her camp accom- 
modations : — " The General's apartment is very 
small ; he has had a log cabin built to dine in, 
which has made our quarters more tolerable than 
they were at first." 

Thus, then, did this high-souled and self-sacri- 
ficing woman voluntarily exchange the ease, the 
comfort, and the security of her home, for incon- 

* Valley Forge is six miles above Worristown, in Pennsyl- 
vania, on the west side of the Schuylkill river, and about twenty 
miles from Philadelphia. It is a deep, rugged hollow, at the 
mouth of Valley Creek, from which, and from an ancient forge 
once established there, it takes its name. On the mountain sides 
of this wild spot, Washington fixed the camp of the American 
Army during the winter of 1*777-78. 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 161 

venience, privation, and danger, that she might 
the better sympathize with, and minister to her 
husband ; who, oppressed by conflicting duties, 
difficulties, and trials, and, at the same time, a 
mark for the shafts of public animadversion and 
private intrigue, could turn trustingly to the faith- 
ful and tender friend who was ever ready to share 
his cares, his anxieties, and his toils. 

True to the faith and fortitude of a Christian, 
side by side with her heroic husband, did she stem 
alike the tide of popular discontent and the tumul- 
tuous commotion more immediately surrounding 
her in the Camp. Unappalled by the disaffection, 
persecution, mortality, and despair by which she 
was environed, she was content to endure all, 
brave all, save separation from the cherished ob- 
jects of her warmest affections. 

Calm, cheerful, hopeful, her presence and her 
example shed light and blessing even upon the 
deepest gloom and the most fearful horrors ! 

The last ensanguined record of this ever-mem- 
orable winter was at length traced upon the Page 
of Time ! 

Well has it been said, that, in the moral, as in 
the physical world, the darkest hour precedes that 
of dawning light. The calumnies by which the 



102 MEMOIR OF 

Commander-in-Chief had been so ruthlessly as- 
sailed, only served to elicit the strongest proofs 
of public confidence and individual attachment. 
The cruel deprivations and sufferings of the Pa- 
triot Soldiers were now materially relieved. 
Eager preparation and active discipline took the 
place of discontent and despondency. And 
bright-eyed May, the fairy-footed daughter of the 
year, was a welcome harbinger of the inspiring 
intelligence that France had publicly recognized 
the Independence of the American Republic, and 
that her efficient aid would now assist the strug- 
'gling cause of Liberty I 

" A day was set apart for a public celebration 
in camp. It began in the morning with religious 
services, and a discom'se to each of the brigades 
by one of its chaplains. Then followed military 
parades, marchings, and firings of cannon and mus- 
ketry, according to a plan announced in the gen- 
eral orders. The appearance was brilliant, and 
the effect imposing. The whole ceremony was 
conducted with perfect regularity, and was closed 
with an entertainment, patriotic toasts, music, and 
other demonstrations of joy." 

The following paragraph from the pen of an 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 163 

enthusiastic letter- writer* graphically portrays 
the encouraging aspect of affairs in the Republi- 
can Camp after the reception of the soul-cheering 
news of our National Alliance with the Land of 
La Fayette : — " We have nothing here but re- 
joicing ; every one looks happy, and seems proud 
of the share he has had in humbling the pride of 
Britain, and of establishing the name of America 
as a nation." 

Sir Henry Clinton's evacuation of Philadel- 
phia was the signal for the breaking up of the 
American Camp at Valley Forge. 

Mrs. Washington once more returned to the 
scene of her long-interrupted domestic felicity, 
again to encounter the suspense, the forebodings, 
the alternating hopes and fears, that must, inevi- 
tably, fall to the lot of one watching at a distance 
from the scene of action, the changeful indica- 
tions of the political horizon, and far separated 
from those who rendered both her home and her 
country doubly dear to her heart. 



Our brief and imperfect description of the 
most prominent characteristics of the Winter 

* Lady Catherine Alexander, writing from Yalley Forge to 
a friend. 



161 MEMOIR OP 

passed at Valley Forge by tlic illustrious Subject 
of our narrative, will serve, in its general fea- 
tures, as a type of those of many succeeding 
years. 

The Head-Quarters of the Commander-in- 
Chief were for several seasons established on the 
banks of the Hudson, or in its vicinity, more or 
less near to New York, as circumstances permit- 
ted. And Mrs. Washington continued, through- 
out the war, to make each year a long and hazard- 
ous journey ere she could rejoin her husband and 
son, and, as often, voluntarily to encounter many 
consecutive months of fatigue, exposure, and de- 
privation. 

The sprightly sketch* that follows, not only 
possesses much interest from its furnishing the 
outline of a day passed by the writer, the Mar- 
quis de Chastellux, as the guest of Gen. and Mrs. 
Washington, in their military home ; but also, 
serves, incidentally, to illustrate the ingenious re- 
sults to which hospitality and necessity unitedly 
brought the domestic resources of camp-life, under 
the practical superintendence of " Lady Wash- 
ington." It is possible that the dwelling here 

* We are indebted to Mrs. EUet for this extract, — sin? herself 
quotes it from a ^fS. Letter. 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 1G5 

described is the same referred to in a previous 

4 

chapter, as having undergone some improvements 
and repairs, for the better accommodation of its 
fair and gentle mistress : — 

*' The Head-Quarters at Newburgh consist of 
a single house, built in the Dutch fashion, and 
neither large nor commodious. The largest room 
in it, v^hich General Washington has converted 
into his dining-room, is tolerably spacious, but it 
has seven doors, and only one window. The 
chimney is against the wall ; so that there is, in 
fact, but one vent for the smoke, and the fire is in 
the room itself. I found the company assembled 
in a small room, which served as a parlor. At 
nine, supper was served, and when bed-time came 
I found that the chamber to which the General 
conducted rne, was the very parlor spoken of, 
wherein he had made them place a camp-bed. 
We assembled at breakfast the next morning at 
ten, during which interval my bed was folded 
up ; and my chamber became the sitting-room for 
the whole afternoon ; for American manners do 
not admit of a bed in the room in which com- 
pany is received, especially where there are 
women. The smallness of the house, and the 
inconvenience to which I saw that General 



166 MEMOIR OF 

and Mrs. Washington had put themselves to re- 
ceive me, made me apprehensive lest M. Ro- 
chambeau might arrive on the same day. The 
day I remained at head-quarters was passed either 
at table or in conversation."* 

As we have before intimated, the wife of the 
American General-in-Chief, though individually 
so unoffending, was occasionally the subject of 
manifestations of the height to which party ani- 
mosity rose in those troubled times. 

In one of her annual removals from Mount 
Vernon, at the conclusion of the active campaign, 
Mrs. Washington's usual visit at Philadelphia was 
marked by great coldness on the part of the ladies 
resident there, many of whom forbode to call 
upon her during her stay in the city.f 

But in ao-reeable contrast to treatment like 
this, was the cordial hospitality with which this 

* It may be new to some of our readers that the house desig- 
nated in tMs description is still standing entire at Newburgh. 
It is plainly discernible from the deck of a steamer upon the 
Hudson, and may be thus seen by the passing traveller. Long 
may this classic spot be sacred from the approach of the De- 
stroyer ! 

f This indication of popular feeling probably grew out of the 
opposition made by the Philadelphians to Washington's going 
into -winter quarters during the inclement winter of '77-78. 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 167 

patriotic wife w^as very frequently greeted in the 
course of lier yearly pilgrimages, by those devo- 
ted friends of the Revolutionary cause at whose 
several residences she was temporarily enter- 
tained. 

We are told by a graceful annalist, that, on 
one occasion, when the Head-Quarters of the Re- 
publican Commander-in-Chief were for a short 
time established at the hospitable mansion of Mrs. 
Barry, in New Jersey, a Ball was given by the 
hostess to signalize the arrival of the wife of her 
illustrious guest. When the well-known chariot 
of " Lady Washington," with her coachman and 
postilion, in their neat white and scarlet liveries, 
arrived at her door, and Mrs. Barry saw a female 
alight, dressed in a simple "russet gown" with a 
" white handkerchief neatly folded over her 
neck," she was surprised to perceive the Hero- 
Chief advance to receive her, and to learn that 
this unostentatious stranger was none other than 
" Lady Washington" I The first salutations over 
(so runs the history) the General proceeded to 
make inquiries respecting the well-being of his 
favorite carriage-horses, and concluded the pleas- 
ures of the day, by treading — for the first time in 
a very long while — a minuet at the Ball I 



168 MEMOIR OF 

This, at that time, a very frequent and favor- 
ite mode of celebrating a joyful occurrence, was 
also adopted on the Anniversary of the National 
Alliance with France. 

"The entertainment was given in the Camp 
near Middlebrook. On this festive occasion Mrs. 
Washing-ton, Mrs. Greene and Mrs. Knox, and 
the wives of several officers were present ; and a 
circle of brilliants, the least of which was more 
valuable than the stone which the King of Portu- 
gal received from his Brazilian possessions. The 
ladies and gentlemen from a large circle around 
the camp, attended the celebration. It was 
opened by a discharge of cannon : and dinner 
was served in a building used for an academy. 
There was dancing in the evening, and a grand 
display of fire- works. The Ball was opened by 
General tVashington. As this was a festival 
given by men who had not enriched themselves 
by the war, the illuminations were on a cheap 
scale, being entirely of their own manufacture ; 
the seats were adorned with no armorial blazonry, 
but were the work of native and rather unskilful 
artisans. Instead of knights of different orders, 
such as pageants like the Mischianza could boast, 
there were but hardy soldiers ; happy, however, 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 169 

in the consciousness that they had contributed to 
bring about the auspicious event they had met to 
celebrate."* 

If sometimes subjected to unmerited neglect in 
her own country, indications were not wanting 
of the respect and regard entertained for Mrs. 
Washington abroad. Some ladies who came 
from New York to the American Camp, at one 
time, when it was fixed near that city, reported 
that a vessel which had been captured and 
brought into port, had on board a present from 
the Queen of France to Mrs. Washington, which 
was designed to manifest her interest in that lady, 
and to serve as " an elegant testimonial of her 
approbation of the General's conduct." The 
Marquis de La Fayette was requested by Wash- 
ington to make inquiries, through the Marchioness, 
at Versailles, respecting this somewhat interesting 
matter, but we are unable to gratify our readers 
by relating the result of the investigation. 

Scenes and incidents like these, occasionally 
relieved, for a brief space, the weight of care 
and solicitude that, despite her apparent cheerful- 
ness and tranquillity, long rested upon the mind 

* Remembrancer, Vol. ^'I. 
8 



170 MEMOIR OF 

of this magnanimous and patriotic American 
Matron. 

Mrs. Washington's mental firmness and con- 
stancy of pm'pose were, more than once during 
the struggle of the Revolution, severely tested by 
the illness of her husband, v/ho, taxed both in 
body and mind beyond the power of human en- 
durance, was on several occasions constrained to 
resign himself wholly to her gentle and efficacious 
ministrations. 

Occurrences and alarms similar to those which 
form the subject of the follovv'ing letter, not un- 
frequently united with her apprehensions respect- 
ing the health of her husband to disturb the mental 
quietude of this exemplary wife : — 

"Trenton, c\pril lltb, 1781. 

"Dear Sir : 

"I was told a few days ago by a man who had 
made his escape from New York, after having 
been thirteen months a prisoner with the enemy, 
that I might depend upon it there were four parties 
out to take or assassinate General Washington, 
your Excellency, me, and a fourth person, whose 
name he did not hear, or had forgot. As I 
frequently receive accounts of this kind of expe- 
dition against myself, which sometimes prove true 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 171 

and sometimes otherwise, I paid no great atten- 
tion to the man's report. I yesterday received a 
letter from General Washington, dated the 8th 
instant, in which there is this paragraph : — * In- 
telligence has been sent me by a gentleman living 
near the enemy's lines, and who has an opportu- 
nity of knowing what passes among them, that 
four parties had been sent out with orders to take 
or assassinate your Excellency, Governor Clinton, 
me, and a fourth person, name not known.' 

" It seems, therefore, highly probable that the 
gentleman whose name my informant did not re- 
member, was Governor Clinton, and the gentle- 
man whose name was not transmitted to General 
Washington, is your Excellency. 

" This confirmation of my intelligence gives 
the matter so serious an aspect, that I think it my 
duty to advise your Excellency of what has come 
to my knowledge, that you may take such pre- 
cautions on the occasion as appear to you neces- 
sary. I have the honor to be, with the greatest 
esteem, Dear Sir, your Excellency's 
" Most humble, &c., 

" W. Livingston."* 

* From Governor Livingston to Piesident Reed. — Life and 
Correspondence of President Reed, Vol. 2, 337. 



172 MEMOIR OF 

In addition to trials thus peculiarly severe, Mrs. 
Washington's own health was, not unfrequently, 
seriously impaired by the hardships of her mode 
of life in the camp. She had, during one winter, 
the fortitude to submit to the imperative ordeal 
of being inoculated for the small-pox, — the popu- 
lar course in the then imperfect state of medical 
science, — rather than to secure safety in distance 
from the immediate scene of the ravages of that 
appalling malady. 

The personal appearance of Mrs. Washington, 
at this meridian period of her life, is thus de- 
scribed by one of her friends : — " She is about 
forty, or five and forty, rather plump, but fresh, 
and of an agreeable countenance." 

Time rolled on. The diligent industry of the 
mistress of Mount Vernon, the society of her 
daughter-in-law* and of the little prattlers who 
now began to claim her care and affection, to- 

* The marriage of Colonel Custis occurred previous to, or 
about the time of the commencement of the Revolution, as we 
learn from Mr. Sparks, that her daughter-in-law accompanied 
Mrs, Washington to Cambridge in 1175. Though we may not 
enter the sacred precuacts of private life in search of details 
respecting this event, none will question the interest with which 
it was invested for so affectionate a mother as Mrs. Washington. 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 173 

gether with her extensive correspondence, and 
the never-ceasing duties of hospitality, combined 
to beguile the tedium of her annual separations 
from her almost idolized " chief;" and her winters 
continued to pass as they had invariably done 
since the commencement of the Revolution. 

Faint streakings of the morninor light destined 
to break into the effulgence of an all-glorious day, 
began at length to cheer the friends and defenders 
of Liberty, and the self-sacrificing Wife of the im- 
mortal Soldier of America rejoiced, with noble 
exultation, in the anticipated consummation of a 
Nation's freedom, achieved by hhn ! Visions of 
domestic felicity once more delighted her mental 
gaze — visions of a blissful reunion with each 
member of her now scattered familv, at home, in 
their beloved Mount Vernon, not one link want- 
ing in the golden circlet of love, each face radiant 
with happiness, each heart overflowing with grat- 
itude and affection! 

" Joy quickens her pulse, all lier hardships seem o'er, 
And the voices of lov'd ones reply to her call !" 

Alas, for the vanity of all human expectations! 
An impenetrable pall was fated suddenly to 
shroud from her eagerly-expectant eyes alike the 



174 ME?»IOIR OF 

triumphant success of her husband, and the dawn- 
ing glory of her country. 

What were all earthly honors and triumphs to 
a mother abruptly summoned to attend the last 
hours of her only remaining child ! — the pride 
and joy of her tender and loving heart, stricken 
down, — not victor-crowned and dying for his 
country on the field of fame, — bat the victim of 
insidious disease ! 

Colonel Custis had, from the commencement 
of the Revolutionary stru2;o-]e, attached himself to 
the fortunes of his country, and participated, as 
one of the Aids-de-Camp of his step-father, in the 
dangers, efforts, and trials of that eventful con- 
test. While engaged in his military duties during 
the siege of Yorktown, he was attacked by the 
malignant fever then raging in the British camp, 
and, after enjoying the high satisfaction of be- 
holding the surrender of Lord Cornwallis, was im- 
mediately removed, under the superintending care 
of a kind and valued family friend, Dr. Craik, the 
Chief of the American Medical Staff, to Eltham, 
in New Kent. 

Thither, when informed of his alarming condi- 
tion, Mrs. Washington flew on the wings of tor- 
tured affection. 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 175 

For the victorious American Chief, too, the cup 
of joyful thanksgiving was deeply tinctured with 
bitterness. — " Providence left Jihn childless that 
he might he the father of his country,''* but he 
was strongly attached to this his almost-son, so 
long and so affectionately associated with him in 
the closest personal and official relations. He 
was no sooner aware of the increasing illness of 
Colonel Custis, than he " privately left the camp 
before Yorktown, while it yet rang with the 
shouts of victory, and, attended by a single offi- 
cer, rode with all speed to Eltham." 

Day was dawning upon the dimmed eyes of 
the agonized v/atchers by the bedside of the ex- 
piring sufferer, when Dr. Craik was requested to 
attend the Commander-in-Chief, who had just ar- 
rived. 

Washington inquired vv^hether there was any 
reason to hope for Colonel Custis' recovery. 
When the physician sadly intimated that all was 
nearly over, the sorrowing pater patricB, retiring 
to a solitary apartment, threw himself upon a 
couch, overpowered by the most painful emotion. 

^ This exquisite attici.^ni appeared originally in the form of 
a toast given at a public dinner, but the writer is not so fortu- 
nate as to know the name of its felicitous author. 



176 MEMOIR OP 

When death had concluded the vigil of the an 
guish-stricken parent, her sympathizing husband 
sought her presence ; and these tender friends 
long mingled their grief together, ere the Gen- 
eral-in-Chief, — nerving himself to imperative ef- 
fort and calmness, — returned to the world that 
claimed him, leaving the childless mother alone 
with her God I 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 



177 



CHAPTER YIIL 



In Duty's active round each day is past, 

As if she thought each day might prove her last: 

Her labors for devotion best prepare, 

And meek Devotion smooths the brow of care. 



More. 



Where is the smile unfeign'd, the jovial welcome, 

Which cheered the sad, beguiPd the pilgrim's pain, 

And made Dependency forget its bonds ? 

Where is the ancient, hospitable hall. 

Whose vaulted roof once rung with harmless mirth, 

Where every passing stranger was a guest, 

And every guest a friend ? 



More. 



After the death of her son, which was, as we 
have seen, coeval with the virtual termination of 
the War of the Revolution,* the cares and af- 
fections of Mrs. Washington were centered 
more continuously than they had been for many 
previous years at Mount Vernon, which was now 
the home of her widowed daughter-in-law and 
of her four little grand-children, who became, 
thenceforth, the objects of her especial attention 
and solicitude. 

It was now the chief delight and blessing of her 
bereaved and affectionate heart to 

* Oct., 1781. 



8* 



178 MEMOIR OF 



hear tlie gladsome sound 



Of infant voices sweet, 
The gush of fairy laughter, 
Or the tread of tiny feet." 

In addition to the dear and interesting com- 
panions wlio were added permanently to the 
members of her household, Mrs. Washington 
continued, as she had hitherto done, when at 
Mount Yernon during the warmer months of the 
year, to gather round her those other family 
friends and connections who had long partaken 
her hospitality. Sorrow had never the effect to 
render her selfish ; nor did she now forget what 
was due in this respect to her husband, as well as 
to her own personal obligations and attachments. 
But she was, of course, altogether disinclined to 
participate in the public rejoicings and festivities 
in which the Republican Commander-in-Chief 
was compelled by his public station to take part. 

It was not until after the formal conclusion of 
the Treaty of Peace, in 1783, that the multiplied 
domestic occupations and responsibilities so long 
resting upon Mrs. Washington, were again shared 
by her husband. 

His public duties resigned at last, and the pain 
of the pathetic and sublime scene of his final 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 179 

parting with his beloved companions in arms en- 
countered and passed, Mrs. Washington pro- 
ceeded as far as Annapohs to meet the retiring 
Cincinnatus, and they returned together to the 
peaceful retreat from which so many revolving 
years, and so many momentous occurrences had 
separated its illustrious master. 

It was on the eve of the great Jubilee of Chris- 
tendom, that Washington, " an older man," — to 
use his own expressive words, — " by nine years 
than when he left them," once more crossed his 
own threshold, and, beside his own hearth-stone, 
hailed the welcome joys of home ! " The scene 
is at length closed," said the august Father of his 
Country, " I feel myself eased of a load of public 
care, and hope to spend the remainder of my days 
in cultivating the aftections of good men, and in 
the practice of domestic virtues 1" 

We leave our readers to imagine the glad en- 
thusiasm that expressed the general delight of 
relatives, friends, and dependants, at the long- 
looked-for arrival of this grand epoch in the family 
history of the inmates of Mount Vernon ; and the 
more quiet, but not therefore less heartfelt, en- 
joyment and gratitude of Mrs. Washington, on 
that happy Christmas Day, when a double zest 



180 MEMOIR OF 

was lent, each to the other, by the combined 
pleasures of gratified affection and fervent devo- 
tion. The soul of a religious being, when thus 
blessed, must ever 

" take Devotion's wing ; 



And, like the bird that hails the sun, 
Far soar towards Heaven;" 

and this sincere and devout Christian had too 
long and too unceasingly been accustomed to 
bear both her joys and griefs to the Cross of the 
Redeemer, not now to unite " the cup of thanks- 
giving" with her " sorrowful tears." 

The following pleasing sketch* of the mode of 
life contemplated with cordial anticipations of 
gratification by the Hero of America, upon his 
return to Mount Vernon, will also serve as a cor- 
rect portraiture of the tastes and wishes of his 
amiable home-companion : — 

" At length, my dear Marquis, I am become a 
private citizen on the banks of the Potomac ; and 
under the shadow of my own vine and fig-tree, 
free from the bustle of a camp, and the busy 

* Extracted from a Letter written by Wasliington to La 
Fayette, Feb. 1, 1784. — Sparks' Writings of Washington, Vol. 
IX. 17. 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 181 

scenes of public life, I am solacing myself with 
those tranquil enjoyments, of which the soldier, 
who is ever in pursuit of fame, the statesman, 
whose watchful days and sleepless nights are 
spent in devising schemes to promote the welfare 
of his own, perhaps the ruin of other countries, as 
if this globe was insufficient for us all, and the 
courtier, who is always watching the countenance 
of his prince, in hopes of catching a gracious 
smile, can have very little conception. I have 
not only retired from all public employments, but 
J am retiring within myself, and shall be able to 
view the solitary walk, and tread the paths of 
private life with a heartfelt satisfaction. Envious 
of none, I am determined to be pleased with all ; 
and this, my dear friend, being the order of my 
march, I will move gently down the stream of 
life, until I sleep with my fathers." 

Once thoroughly re-established in the beloved 
home of their earlier, and happy years. Genera 
and Mrs. Washington assiduously turned their 
attention to the enlargement of the family man- 
sion, which still retained its original size, and to 
the further improvement and adornment of the 
adjoining grounds and gardens, all of which soon 



182 MEMOIR OF 

gave token of th^ taste, skill, and industry of 
both.* 

" Having arranged and systematized his agri- 
cultural operations, Washington now set himself 
at work in earnest to execute his purpose of 
planting and adorning the grounds around the 
mansion-house. In the direction of the left wing, 
and at a considerable distance, was a vegetable 
garden ; and on the right, at an equal distance, 
was another garden for ornamental shrubs, plants, 
and flowers. Between these gardens, in front of 
the house, was a spacious lavv'n, surrounded by 
serpentine walks. Beyond the gardens and lawn 
were the orchards. Very early in the spring, he 
began with th':3 lawn, selecting the choicest trees 
from the woods on his estate, and transferrin gj 
them to the borders of the serpentine walks, ar- 
ranging them in such a manner as to produce 
symmetry and beauty in the general effect, inter- 
mingling in just proportions iorest trees, ever- 
greens, and flowering shrubs. He attended per- 
sonally to the selection, removal, and planting of 
every tree ; and his Diary, which is very particu- 
lar from day to day through the whole process, 

■^ At this time, tlic .approacli to this celebrated residence was 
through three successive miles of uninterrupted forest. 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 183 

proves that he engaged in it with intense interest, 
and anxiously watched each tree and shoot till it 
showed signs of renewed growth. Such trees as 
were not found on his own lands, he obtained 
from other parts of the country, and at length his 
design was completed according to his wishes. 

" The orchards, gardens, and green-houses were 
next replenished with all the varieties of rare 
fruit-trees, vegetables, shrubs, and flowering plants 
which he could procure. This was less easily 
accomplished ; but, horticulture being with him a 
favorite pursuit, he continued during his life to 
make new accessions of fruits and plants, both 
native and exotic." 

Apart from these agreeable employments, in 
which she occasionally took part, Mrs. Washing- 
ton found ample occupation in the charge of a 
large household, which was constantly augmented 
by the addition of numerous guests. 

The following letter furnishes pleasing proof of 
the thoughtful and sympathizing kindness with 
which her ever- considerate husband sought to 
relieve the mistress of Mount Vernon, at least 
in part, from the onerous labors of housekeep- 
ing:— 



184 MEMOIR OP 

"Mount Vernon, 'Jth Sept., 1785. 
" Sir : 

"As no person can judge better of the qualifi- 
cations necessary to constitute a good housekeeper, 
or household steward, than yourself, for a family 
which has a good deal of company, and wishes to 
entertain them in a plain, but genteel style, I take 
the liberty of asking you, if there is any such one 
within your reach, whom you think could be in- 
duced to come to me on reasonable wasies. I 
would rather have a man than a woman, but 
either will do, if they can be recommended for their 
honesty, sobriety, and knowledge of their profes- 
sion ; which, in one word, is to relieve Mrs. 
Washington from the drudgery of ordering, and 
seeing the table properly covered, and things eco- 
nomically used, &c., &c." 

Despite the assistance she received from others, 
however, Mrs. Washington's employments and 
duties were many and important ; and it was 
only by habitually systematizing all her arrange- 
ments and occupations, that she was enabled to 
accomplish a personal superintendence of the va- 
rious engagements of each successive day. 

Continuing to rise, invariably, with the sun, as 
had always been her habit, she industriously de- 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 185 

voted several hours to her domestic affah's, thus 
securing leisure for social enjoyments, and for 
attention to other avocations, without the neglect 
of household duties. 

In the well-regulated mind of this disciplined 
and exemplary woman, each detail of daily life 
and habit found suitable attention. This was 
true even w^ith reference to the exquisite neat- 
ness of her dress, w^hich, though always entirely 
simple, was regarded as a model of refinement and 
propriety by her female friends. Carrying her 
keys at her side and making frequent visits to the 
various apartments connected with the elaborate 
arrangements of the table and its " aids and ap- 
pliances," the spotless purity of her attire always 
remained unsulhed by her active participation in 
the mysteries of each and all. 

The direction and government of her servants, 
too, illustrated both the judgment and kindness 
of this admirable mistress. Prompt, regular, and 
mdustrious herself, she required like characteris- 
tics in those about her ; but she tempered whole- 
some restraint by benevolent and sympathizing 
interest in whatever related to their collective or 
individual good ; and, in addition to its many 
other attractions, the home of Mrs. Washington 



186 MEMOIR OF 

was celebrated for the superior excellence of its 
domestics. 

It is recorded of this devout Christian, that 
never during her life, whether in prosperity or in 
adversity, did she omit that daily self-communion 
and self-examination, and those private devotional 
exercises, which w^ould best prepare her for the 
self-control and self-denial by which she was, for 
more than half a century, so eminently distin- 
guished. It was her habit to retire to her own 
apartment every morning after breakfast, there 
to devote an hour to solitary prayer and medita- 
tion. 

Prominent among the multitudinous occupa- 
tions of Mrs. Washington, were those connected 
with the varying but incessant requisitions of hos- 
pitality. She had always been remarked for the 
ease and elegance of her manners, and long 
practice in the graceful courtesies of the table 
had served to perfect her conversational powers ; 
so that when again resuming these agreeable du- 
ties with her present advantages of place and po- 
sition, she conducted the ceremonies of her am- 
ple and bountiful board with peculiar affability 
and self-possession, and led the conversation with 
singular felicity to subjects most congenial to the 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 187 

tastes, and familiar to the minds of all. Each 
varying theme was invested with attractiveness 
by her amiability and good sense ; each guest 
seemed the object of her especial care and atten- 
tion. And as her husband was habituallv taci- 
turn and abstracted, this happy tact, and this gen- 
tle womanly politeness, were particularly appro- 
priate and necessary on the part of the hostess 
of Mount Yernon. 

It Vvill readily be supposed that retirement and 
solitude were unknown to the inmates of the 
Home of Washington. 

It was the pleasure of the now rusticated 
American Commander-in-Chief and of " Lady 
Washington" to repay V\'ith grateful interest, those 
tokens of friendship and politeness which had 
been exhibited towards them, when both were, 
in some degree, the tests of unaffected and disin- 
terested report and regard. 

Her valued female friends, — the heroic com- 
peers of '• Lady Washington" through long, dark 
years of struo:a;le and sutferino-, — renewed their 
intercourse with her under auspices most pleasing 
to all parties. The venerated members of the 
first Congress ; the illustrious and time-honored 
Cincinnati ; Washington's beloved companions in 



188 MEMOIR OF 

arms, — the faithful, though humble veterans of 
the well-fought fields of the Revolution ; old 
friends and new ; relations, connections and ac- 
quaintances, all " came trooping" to this shrine 
of Patriotism and Worth. 

No distinguished foreigner who visited the new 
Land of Freedom, thought his tour complete 
without its including a pilgrimage to the home of 
the illustrious modern Cincinnatus. Many sought 
counsel and aid at his hands in the prosecution 
of objects of business, pleasure or philanthropy. 
Illustrative of this fact, there may be found 
among Washington's published Letters, together 
with many others of a similar nature, several 
addressed about this time to the celebrated 
Catharine Maccauley Graham ; who, during a 
prolonged visit at Mount Vernon, endeavored to 
secure the interest of her host in her benevolent, 
though somewhat Utopian schemes of usefulness, 
and with whom he politely continued, subse- 
quently, for some time to correspond. 

But among the numerous guests who, during 
this period of Mrs. Washington's life, claimed 
the hospitalities of Mount Vernon, there were 
few whose arrival was anticipated with more 
pleasure, or whose welcome was more heart-felt, 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 189 

than that of the Marquis de La Fayette. There 
was, at one time, a hope entertained by his Amer- 
ican friends, that this celebrated Champion of 
Liberty would be accompanied by the Marchio- 
ness in his visit to this country soon after the 
termination of the War in which he had borne 
so conspicuous a part. With this distinguished 
lady Mrs. Washington maintained the most cor- 
dial and pleasing correspondence, upon that, and 
kindred topics. — Nothing could surpass the affec- 
tionate veneration with which both these amiable 
foreigners regarded their beloved " Hero." Their 
eldest son and daughter bore, severally, the names 
of Washington and of his native State ; and 
they long cherished the hope that he would, 
eventually, be enabled to fulfil a half-promise to 
visit France with Mrs. Washington. The suc- 
ceeding passage from one of Washington's Let- 
ters to Madame de La Fayette, will furnish the 
reasons that were deemed sufficient to prevent 
the gratification of this hospitable wish, and ex- 
emplify the cordiality with which the Marchioness 
was invited to Mount Vernon. 

*' Mrs. Washington is highly honored by your 
participations, and feels very sensibly the force 
of your polite invitation to Paris ; but she is too 



190 MEMOIR OF 

far advanced in life, and too much interested ii? 
the care of her Utile progeny to cross the Atlan- 
tic. This, my dear Marchioness, (indulge the 
freedom.) is not the case with you. You have 
youth (and if you should not incline to bring 
your children, can leave them with all the ad- 
vantages of education,) and must have a curios- 
ity to see the country, young, rude, and unculti- 
vated as it is, for the liberties of which your 
husband has fought, bled, and acquired much 
glory, where everybody admires, everybody loves 
him. Come, then, let me entreat you, and call 
my cottage your home ; for your own doors do 
not open to you with more readiness than mine 
would. You will see the plain manner in which 
we live, and meet with rustic civility, and you 
shall taste tlie simplicity of rural life. It will di- 
versify the scene, and may give a higher relish for 
the gayeties of the court, when you return to 
Versailles. In these wishes, and in most respect- 
ful compliments, Mrs. Washington joins me. 
With sentiments of strong attachment, and very 
great regard, I have the honor to be, madam, &c."* 

* In our inability to present our readers with specimens of 
Mrs. Washington's letters to tliis interesting family, we venture 
to commend to their perusal two selections from tliose ad- 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 191 

In the mean while La Fayette returned, tem- 
porarily, to the country of his adoption, though 
without the Marchioness ; and upon his arrival 
hastened directly to the presence of his dearest 
American friends. He passed a long-remembered 
fortnight of such happiness as rarely falls to the 
lot of mortals with his almost parental host and 
hostess at Mount Vernon, before commencing 
his general tour to the North, and returned again 
for another week of delightful intercourse with 
them, before his departure for his native land. 

Nor w^as it by those alone who were so fortu- 
nate as to be able personally to pay their respects 
to Mrs. Washington, that she was gratefully and 
affectionately remembered long after she ceased 
to spend a portion of each year in intimate asso- 
ciation with the martial companions of the Re- 
publican Commander-in-Chief. Thus, we fnid 
proofs of the kindly recollections ever cherished 
for her by the Count de Rochambeau ; and rec- 
ords of tlie complimentary and oft-recurring mes- 
sages of regard exchanged with him through her 

dressed, about this time, by Washington to Madame De La 
Fayette, in which he represents himself as expressing the wishes 
and sentiments of both Mrs. Washington and himself. See Note 
C, of the Appendix. 



192 MEMOIR OF 

husband. So, too, with Gen. Knox and innume- 
rable others of their mutual friends. 

We frequently discover traces of the prolonged 
continuance of much pleasing and friendly epis- 
tolary intercourse not only with these gentlemen, 
but with the ladies of their several families — of 
an interchange of the most cordial invitations, 
messages, &c., &c. Indeed the " Miscellaneous 
Correspondence" of Washington abounds with 
these incidental testimonials to the high apprecia- 
tion entertained by her friends of the many and 
exalted excellencies of this celebrated lady, as 
well as with unequivocal manifestations of the 
unchanging interest and affection with which her 
husband constantly associated her with himself 
in all the various enjoyments and courtesies of 
social and domestic life.* 

But agreeable and engrossing as were the en- 
gagements and enjoyments we have attempted 
faintly to delineate, they were far from occupying 
the attention of either Mrs. Washington or her 
husband to the exclusion of more important moral 
obligations. 

* We are constrained to refer to the Letters of Wasldngton 
for proofs and illustrations of our statements in relation to this 
interesting subject, because little of the correspondence of Mrs. 
Washington is extant, or at least, attainable fur publication. 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 193 

After the nine years of Washington's unbroken 
absence, and of the very frequent and protracted 
departures of Mrs. Washington from home, and 
in the unsettled state of all private as well as pub- 
lic affairs, it is not remarkable that both should 
deem it important, for the sake of those dependent 
upon them, if not for their own personal advan- 
tage, that strict order and method should be in- 
stituted in ail matters appertaining to individual 
and household expenditure. But whatever neces- 
sity arose for curtailment in the pecuniary ar- 
rangements of this truly conscientious and esti- 
mable pair, was made to fall, not upon their 
benevolent and charitable resources, but upon 
their powers of self-denial in matters of luxurious 
indulgence or personal convenience. Thus, 
though Washington at one time uncompromis- 
ingly countermanded an order for silver plate 
previously given, through the Marquis de La 
Fayette to his Parisian agents, when he thought, 
upon a further investigation of his affairs, that he 
could not conveniently meet the necessary ex- 
pense and continue his other outlays, he, about 
the same time, gave the sum of £1000 to the 
Academy at Alexandria, and made the most kind 
and generous provision for an unfortunate con- 

9 



194 MEMOIR OF 

nection that sought his aid. He, also, during 
many years, " gave fifty pounds annually for the 
instruction of indigent children in Alexandria; 
and by will he left a legacy of four thousand dol- 
lars, the net income of which was to be used for 
the same benevolent object forever." 

To obhgations like these, and to objects and 
designs of a similar nature, all considerations of 
less moral importance were systematically and 
habitually made subservient. United in the most 
faithful, cheerful, and enlightened regard for the 
requisitions of philanthropy, the necessities of de- 
pendants and the promptings of beneficence, these 
congenial and exalted spirits found more genuine 
gratification in the unobtrusive charities that 
marked their mutual career, than all the pomp 
and luxury of a regal establishment could have 
yielded them. 

Meanwhile the progress of national events — so 
important, so interesting to all — engaged a share 
of the attention of one long and intimately con- 
nected with the most prominent actors in the 
affairs of her country. 

Mrs. Washington partook her husband's high 
pleasure in the early adoption of the Federal 
Constitution by her native State ; and, though 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 195 

now seldom tempted to leave home, probably par- 
ticipated with him in the pubhc festivities by 
which their friends in the city of iVlexandria were 
the first to celebrate an occurrence so gratifying 
to the Patriot of Mount Vernon ; who thus briefly 
alludes to the expressive rejoicings elicited by the 
occasion, in a letter written immediately after his 
return home : — " The citizens of Alexandria when 
convened constituted the first public company in 
America, which had the pleasure of pouring a 
libation to the prosperity of the ten States that 
had actually adopted the General Government."* 

Mrs. Washington was too true-hearted a daugh- 
ter of the " Old Dominion," and too enlightened 
in her patriotism and philanthropy, not greatly to 
rejoice in the gradual development of the auspi- 
cious events by which the general good, not of 
her native country alone, but of the whole civi- 
lized world, was destined to be so essentially and 
enduriugly promoted. 

Though now considerably past fifty years of 
age, and becoming somewhat portly in person, 
Mrs. Washington's rational, healthful habits, and 
the ceaseless influence of the principles by which 
her life was habitually regulated, enabled her still 
* Letter to 0. C. Pinkney, Esq., Mount Yernon, June 28, 1788. 



196 MEMOIR OF 

to exhibit undiminished her characteristic activ- 
ity, usefuhiess and cheerfulness. As a wife, a 
parent, a mistress, a hostess, and a friend, she was 
equally admirable, and a happy combination of 
the best qualities of each and all ! In short, Mrs. 
Washington was at this time, in manner, appear- 
ance, and character, the pleasing and graceful 
representative of a class of which the model is 
now, unfortunately, lost — a Lady of the Olden 
Time ! " She appeared to me," recorded an ad- 
miring visitor* who was, in the absence of her 
husband, the guest of Mrs. Washington during 
the period to which our narrative at present re- 
lates, " one of the best women in the world, and 
beloved by all about her. She * * * * 
was surrounded by her grand-children and Mrs. 
Custis, her son's widow." 

The fairy forms and playful sports of the youth- 
ful inmates alluded to in this brief but expressive 
eulogium, were long the admiration of every 
visitor at Mount Vernon, as they were the pride 
and delight of its amiable mistress, whose judi- 
cious advice and assistance materially aided their 
mother in conducting their education. Deeply 
impressed with the importance of this grateful 

* The Marqms de Chastellux. 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 197 

task, Mrs. Washington regularly devoted much 
time and attention to these favored recipients of 
her love and care, and her husband formally 
adopted one of the three little daughters of Mrs. 
Custis as his own. 

With this general and imperfect description of 
the peaceful and congenial pleasures and em- 
ployments of a delightful and fleeting portion of 
the existence of our heroine, — a period replete 
with exemplifications of the happy fate we have 
before ascribed to her, that of being ever sur- 
rounded by a glowing halo of affection, — we re- 
lease our readers from further attention to this 
portion of our subject. 



198 MEMOIR OP 



CHAPTER IX. 



Must I thus leave thee, Paiadise? Tims leave 

Thee, native soil, these happy walks and shades 

Fit haunt of gods ? Milton. 



The AVorld is with me, and its many cares, 

Its woes — its wants — the anxious hopes and fears 

That wait on all terrestrial aflairs — 

The shades of former and of future years — 

Foreboding fancies, and prophetic tears, 

Quelling a spirit that was once elate. Hood, 



The time too soon arrived when his ever-sa- 
cred duty to his country compelled the illustrious 
Farmer of Mount A^ernon to peril his mental and 
domestic peace, as he had formerly done his "life, 
his fortune, and his sacred lonor," by leaving the 
delightful retreat in which he had earnestly hoped 
to secure future exemption from the burdensome 
public duties to which he had devoted so large a 
portion of his past life. 

Mrs. Washington's reluctance to leave, for 
gayer and more ceremonious scenes, the quiet 
pleasures and congenial pursuits from which she 
derived so much gratification, as well as her sen- 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 199 

timents in relation to other equally interesting 
subjects, will be most satisfactorily learned from 
a Letter addressed by her, soon after her arrival 
at the Seat of Government, to an old and confi- 
dential friend : — 

Mrs. Washington to Mrs. Warren. 

" Your very friendly letter of last month has 
aftbrded me much more satisfaction, than all the 
formal compliments and empty ceremonies of 
mere etiquette could possibly have done. I am 
not apt to forget the feelings which have been in- 
spired by my former society with good acquaint- 
ances, nor to be insensible to their expressions of 
gratitude to the President ; for you know me well 
enough to do me the justice to believe, that I am 
fond only of what comes from the heart. Under 
a conviction that the demonstrations of respect 
and affection to him originate in that source, I 
cannot deny, that I have taken some interest and 
pleasure in them. The difficulties which pre- 
sented themselves to view upon his first entering 
upon the Presidency, seem thus to be in some 
measure surmounted. It is owing to the kind- 
ness of our numerous friends in all quarters, that 



200 MEMOIR OF 

my new and unwished-for situation is not indeed 
a burden to me. When I was much younger, 
I should probably have enjoyed the innocent gay- 
eties of life as much as most persons of my age ; 
but I had long since placed all the prospects of 
my future worldly happiness in the still enjoy- 
ments of the fireside at Mount Vernon. 

" I little thought when the war was finished, 
that any circumstances could possibly happen, 
which would call the General into public life 
again. I had anticipated, that fron^ that moment 
we should be suffered to grow old together in 
solitude and tranquillity. That was the first and 
dearest wish of my heart, I will not, however, 
contemplate with too much regret, disappoint- 
ments that were inevitable, though his feelings 
and my own were in perfect unison with respect 
to our predilection for private life, yet I cannot 
blame him for havino; acted accordino; to his 
ideas of duty in obeying the voice of his country. 
The consciousness of having attempted to do all 
the good in his power, and the pleasure of find- 
ing his fellow-citizens so well satisfied with the 
disinterestedness of his conduct, will doubtless be 
some compensation for the great sacrifices which 
I know he has made. Indeed, on his journey 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 201 

from Mount Vernon to this place, in his late tour 
through the Eastern States, by every public and 
every private information which has come to 
him, I am persuaded he has experienced nothing 
to make him repent his having acted from what 
he conceives to be a sense of indispensable duty. 
On the contrary, all his sensibility has been 
awakened in receiving such repeated and un- 
equivocal proofs of sincere regard from his 
countrymen. 

" With respect to myself, I sometimes think the 
arrangement is not quite as it ought to have been, 
that I, who had much rather be at home, should 
occupy a place, with which a great many younger 
and gayer women would be extremely pleased. 
As my grand-children and domestic connections 
make up a great portion of the felicity which I 
looked for in this world, I shall hardly be able to 
find any substitute, that will indemnify me for the 
loss of such endearing society. I do not say this 
because I feel dissatisfied with my present station, 
for everybody and everything conspire to make me 
as contented as possible in it ; yet I have learned 
too much of the vanity of human affairs to ex- 
pect felicity from the scenes of public life. I am 
still determined to be cheerful and happy in what- 

9* 



202 MEMOIR OF 

ever situation 1 may be ; for I have also learned 
from experience, that the greater part of om' 
happiness or misery depends on our dispositions, 
and not on our circumstances. We carry the 
seeds of the one or the other about with us in our 
minds, wherever we go. 

I have two of my grand-children with me, who 
enjoy advantages in point of education, and who, 
I trust, by the goodness of Providence, will be a 
great blessing to me. My other two grand- 
children are with their mother in Virginia." — ■ 
New York, December 26th, 1789.* 

The subjoined passage from Mrs. Warren's 
reply to this highly engaging and expressive com- 
munication, truly indicates, as she herself inti- 
mates, the feelings of the numerous friends of the 
wife of the first President : — 

" Your observation may be true, that many 
younger and gayer ladies consider your situation 
as enviable ; yet I know not one, who, by general 
consent, would be more likely to obtain the suf- 
frages of the sex, even were they to canvass at 
election, for this elevated station, than the lady 
who now holds the first rank in the United 
States." 

* Published by Mr. Sparks from the Original MS. 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 203 

Our readers will not have failed to remark the 
unostentatious allusion contained in Mrs. Wash- 
ington's Letter, to the scenes and adventures of 
the journey of the President elect from Mount 
Vernon to New York ;* and all will remember 
the peculiar incidents of that triumphal progress 
— unrivalled as it is in the lives of the Kings and 
Conquerors of the World ! 

Every generous heart will beat in unison with 
the delightful emotions that must have glowed in 
the bosom of the Patriot Wife while witnessing 
the spontaneous manifestations of enthusiastic 
gratitude and reverence with which the immortal 
Saviour of his Country was everywhere hailed^ 
from the time of his departure from home to the 
auspicious hour of his imposing and august inau- 
guration. The glorious ceremonial at the Bridge 
of Trenton has no parallel in all history for its deep 

* Some of our readers may have forgotten that the first or- 
ganization of the Federal Government (April, 1789) took place 
at New York. Philadelphia was afterwards the seat of the 
General Govermnent. It was not until the year 1791 that the 
present location was selected by Washington, to whom that 
duty was formally delegated by his countrymen. Thus, then, 
Mrs. Washington passed the first year of the Presidency of her 
husband at 'New York, the second at Philadelphia, and the re- 
maining six at the present National Capitol. 



204 MEMOIR OP 

pathos and moral sublimity. It drew tears even 
from eyes " unused to the meUing mood" — those 
of the imperturbable " Defender of the Mothers" 
and " Protector of the Daughters'' of America. 

Words poorly avail to tell the pure and ex- 
alted happiness of the Wife of Washington, 
when participating with him in joys so little 
alloyed by the dross of earth ! In pleasures hke 
these she received a high remuneration for the 
sacrifice of personal tastes and wishes involved in 
her change of residence and position. 

We behold this estimable, exemplary, and 
gifted woman assuming the obligations and re- 
sponsibilities of her novel and exalted station, 
with the same ease and grace, the same self- 
possession and serenity, the same ready self- 
adaptation and feminine tact that had distin- 
guished her in every previous phase of her varied 
and eventful career. 

When deciding, for the first time, upon the ex- 
ternal manifestations, so to speak, of public order 
and system, the authority of law and the reality 
of National Independence, policy and propriety 
equally demanded that the visible tokens of each 
should be sufficiently imposing to impress the 
popular mind and exact respect from all observers. 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 205 

Hence the prominence given to the mere insignia 
and appendages of power. 

In accordance with this judicious design, the 
Mansion of the First President of the new Re- 
public was furnished with stately elegance, and 
the daily routine of its arrangements was con- 
ducted with much more elaborate observance of 
the requisitions of courtly etiquette than is now 
required either by popular taste or political ne- 
cessity.* 

* The principal servants connected with the Presidential es- 
tablishment wore the family livery — white with red collars 
and cuffs. The chariot in which President Washington per- 
formed his celebrated torn* through the United States, was also 
white. This was probably the color of the carriage in which 
Iilrs. Washington made visits of ceremony in Xew York and 
Philadelphia. The horses of the President were noted for their 
great beauty and value. Those used by Mrs. Washington were 
bays. The chief domestics of the household were a steward, 
housekeeper, porter, coachman, and cook. The former and lat- 
ter were personages distinguished by family tradition. Francis 
the steward, wore, Avhen in his official post at the sideboard, 
during the state dinners, silk small clothes, white sLtk stockings, 
and his hair elaborately dressed and powdered ! It was the 
pride and business of his life to contribute his full share tow- 
ards sustaining the dignity and consequence of the family he 
had the honor to serve, through the most ostentatious displays 
permitted by the restraining supervision of liis methodical and 
judicious master. Hercules, the colored cook, was one of the 



206 MEMOIR OF 

The Levees of Mrs. Washington were held on 
Friday evening of each week ; those of the Presi- 
dent on each Tuesday, from three to four o'clock. 
The " Congressional dinners" occurred on Thurs- 
day. 

The company, on the occasion of Mrs. Wash- 
ington's Levees, assembled at an early hour, and 
usually retired at a little past ten.* The ladies 
were seated, and the President was accustoned to 
address some appropriate remarks to each, in 
turn, as he passed round the circle. At these 
drawing-rooms, Mrs. Robert Morris always occu- 
pied the seat at the right hand of the Lady of the 
Mansion. 

We have no means of describing the dress 
worn by Mrs. Washington during her receptions ; 

most fini.«l\ed and renowned dandies of the age in which he 
flourished, as well as a highly accomplished adept in the mys- 
teries of the important art he so long and so diligently prac- 
tised. 

* The anther remembers to have somewhere read, (though 
upon what authority the statement was based, she cannot now 
recall,) that, as the usual hour of separation drew near, the ex- 
pressive air of " Home, sweet Home," not unfrequently saluted 
the ears of the assemblage ; and that Mrs. Washington was 
wont sometimes quietly to remark that the General retired at 
half-past ten ! 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 207 

but we know that the etiquette of the day re- 
quired that all gentlemen who attended the draw- 
ing-rooms of the National Chief Magistrate should 
appear in fuW full di^ess ; and we infer that there 
was not less ceremony observed by both ladies 
and gentlemen at the Levees of Mrs. Washing- 
ton. The costume of the President at his own 
Levees, (and probably at those of Mrs. Washington 
also,) was a black velvet coat and small clothes, 
with a dress sword, a chapeau de bras adorned 
with a cockade and fringed with short black fea- 
thers, knee and shoe buckles, and orange-colored 
gloves; his hair, of course, powdered, and "gather- 
ed behind in a silk bag." There were no seats 
in the apartment where the President stood, with 
his Secretaries and other attendants, to receive 
his guests on these State Days. Visitors ad- 
vanced in succession, paid their respects to the 
Head of the Republic, and were addressed by him 
in return ; but the President offered his hand to 
no one. 

At all dinners given by the Republican Chief 
Magistrate, the venerable Robert jMorris took pre- 
cedence of every other guest, invariably con- 
ducted Mrs. Washington, and sat at her right 
hand. 



208 MEMOIR OF 

" On the great National festivals of the Fourth 
of July and Twenty-second of February, the 
sages of the Revolutionary Congress and the 
officers of the Revolutionary Army renewed their 
acquaintance with Mrs. Washington ; many and 
kindly greetings took place, with many a recol- 
lection of the days of trial. The Cincinnati, after 
paying their respects to their Chief, were seen to 
file off towards the parlor, where " Lady Wash- 
ington" was in waiting to receive them, and 
where Wayne, and Mifflin, and Dickenson, and 
Stewart, and Moylan, and Hartley, and a host of 
veterans, were cordially welcomed as old friends, 
and where many an interesting reminiscence was 
called up, of the head-quarters and the " times of 
the Revolution." 

On the National fete days, the commencement 
of the Levee was announced by the firing of a 
salute from a pair of twelve-pounders, stationed 
not far distant from the Presidential Mansion ; 
and the ex-Commander-in-Chief paid his former 
companions in arms the compliment to w^ear the 
old Continental uniform. 

It was customary for the gentlemen officially 
connected with the family of the President to re- 
ceive the ladies who came to pay their respects 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 209 

to Mrs. Washington, attend them from their car- 
riages to her presence ; but Washington himself 
performed that service when the venerated 
widows of the beloved and lamented Greene and 
Montgomery called at the Presidential Mansion. 

Visitors were not received either by the Presi- 
dent or Mrs. Washington on the Sabbath. They 
habitually attended divine service during the day, 
and in the evening her husband read from the 
Bible, or some other devotional book, to Mrs. 
Washington in her own apartment. 

" There was one description of visitors, how- 
ever, to be found about the first President's Man- 
sion on all days. The old soldiers repaired, as 
they said, to head- quarters, just to inquire after 
the health of his Excellency and Lady Washing- 
ton. They knew his Excellency was, of course, 
much engaged ; but they would like to see the 
good lady. One had been a soldier of the Life 
Guard ; another had been on duty when the 
British threatened to surprise the head-quarters ; 
a third had witnessed that terrible fellow, Corn- 
wallis, surrender his sword ; each one had some 
touching appeal, with which he introduced him- 
self to the peaceful head-quarters of the presido- 
liad. All were "kindly bid to stay," were con- 



210 MEMOIR OP 

ducted to the steward's apartments, and refresh- 
ments set before them ; and after receivmg some 
little token from the lady, with her best wishes 
for the health and happiness of an old soldier, 
they went their ways, while blessings upon their 
revered Commander and the good Lady Wash- 
ington, were uttered by many a war-worn vete- 
ran of the Revolution."* 

In her new and interesting position as the wife 
of the first President of the American Republic, 
Mrs. Washington continued to be distinguished 
by the quiet good breeding, dignified simplicity, 
self-possession, and equanimity for which she had 
long been remarkable. She received the respect, 
the compliments, and the honors rendered to her 
high station without the assumption of undue self- 
importance, and without the affectation of inap- 
propriate humility. She presided at her elegant 
and bountiful table with the same courteous ease 
and kindly affability that formerly shed an almost 

* Perhaps some of our readers may be disposed to ascribe 
puerility to the mimiteness of our details in relation to the pe- 
cuharities of Mrs. "Wasliington's present mode of life. The 
author hopes, nevertheless, to afford passing entertainment to 
others whose taste for antiquarian research may be, perhaps, 
in some degree gratified. 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 211 

inimitable charm over the hospitahties of IMount 
Vernon ; and continued, as before, to lead the 
conversation on such occasions, to subjects suited 
to the innocent conviviality of the hour."*^ 

Her beloved grand-children continued to en- 
gage the affections and enjoy the society and 
attention of Mrs. Washington, not only when she 
was comparatively at leisure in the retirement of 
Mount Vernon, but when residing at the seat of 
Government, and involved in the formal routine 
of public life. The eldest of this little band were 
now rapidly becoming interesting social com- 
panions for the paternal guide to whom they 
were so much indebted. 

* Mrs. Washington possessed too much natural good sens9 
and too clear a conception of propriety to converse publicly 
upon subjects involving her husband's political interests or offi- 
cial policy. Foreign ambassadors and strangers frequently at- 
tempted to draw her into a discussion of political topics ; but it 
was her invariable practice to wr.ive all discourse of this nature. 
— But, though it had never, during her long public career, been 
the habit of Mrs. W. to give open expression to her political 
sentiments, no want of independence withheld their manifesta- 
tion when circumstances required their promulgation. In the 
year 1780 an Address was published in the Philadelphia news- 
papers, entitled, " The Sentiments of an Atnerican Woman," 
which was attributed to her, and which was publicly read iu 
the Churches throughout Virginia. 



212 MEMOIR OF 

This disinterested friend did i ot, however, 
avail herself of the opportunities afforded by her 
exalted position to secure either personal aggran- 
dizement, or the exclusive benefit of her own 
family. The daughters of her old and well- 
remembered Revolutionary companions, shared 
with her grand-children in the high social advan- 
tages it was now in her power to afford them ; 
and all to whom she was bound by the cherished 
ties of former years, received the most convincing 
proofs of the perpetuity of a friendship that was 
ever equally thoughtful, active, and sincere, whe- 
ther engendered by the clinging tendencies of a 
youthful heart, fostered amid the snow-thatched 
hovels of Valley Forge, enshrined beneath the 
hospitable roof of Mount Vernon, or lending in- 
terest, grace, and warmth to the stately courtesies 
of the National Capital ! 

During each year of the double Presidential 
term of office, Mrs. Washington I'eturned for at 
least a portion of the summer, to Mount Vernon. 
Indeed the health of her husband, impaired by his 
too arduous labors, soon imperatively required 
that temporary exemption from bodily fatigue and 
mental exertion, Vv'hich he could there alone 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 213 

secure, as well as the watchful care she could so 
judiciously and affectionately bestow. 

There is no record of Mrs. Washington's hav- 
ing accompanied the President in his journey to 
New England, during the year following that of 
his election to the Chief Magistracy ; nor of her 
being the companion of his long and well-known 
tour in the year 1791. We, therefore, infer that 
she preferred the repose and seclusion which she 
could best enjoy in her favorite retreat, surrounded 
by the household companions who might almost 
be said to impersonate the Penates of Mount 
V^ernon. 

Devoted to the varied and important duties of 
her high station, eight successive years sped 
away in pleasures and occupations, which, if not 
those most congenial to the conjugal, maternal, 
and domestic tastes and affections of this eminent 
American Matron, were yet crowned by the 
grateful consciousness of usefulness, and the high 
approbation of that mental guide, to the test of 
whose scrutinizing arbitration she was wont to 
submit each thought, word, and action of her 
life. 

The final departure of President and Mrs. 
Washington from the place and power through 



214 MEMOIR OF 

which they had acquired so much personal honor, 
and conferred such lasting benefit upon their 
country, was distinguished by every manifesta- 
tion of national and individual reverence and 
gratitude. 

Ail mourned the retirement of the great and 
good Father of his Country, from the immediate 
supervision to which all might so safely and im- 
plicitly trust ; and the love and blessings of a 
nation followed both Mrs. Washington and its 
honored Chief to the well-earned tranquillity of 
private life. 

Many were the tender farewells of those who 
were to be forever officially separated, and many 
the parting tokens of remembrance and affection 
long preserved as the sacred mementoes of those 
patriarchal days. 

Mrs. Washington's part in these touching 
adieux will be characteristically illustrated by the 
following pleasing anecdote, for which we are 
obliged to a gentleman who personally received it 
from the most authentic source : — 

" On leaving the Seat of Government after the 
inauguration of his successor, Washington pre- 
sented to all his principal officers some token 
of regard. When Mrs. Ohver Wolcott, the wife 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 215 

of one of these gentlemen, and the particular 
friend and correspondent of Miss Custis, called 
' to take leave,' Mrs. Washington asked if she did 
not wish a memorial of the General. ' Yes,' re- 
plied Mrs. Wolcott, ' I should like a lock of his 
hair.' Mrs. Washington instantly took her scis- 
sors, and with a happy smile, cut a large lock 
from her husband's head, added to it one from her 
own, and presented them to her fair friend/' • 

" "Nor place, nor titles, made Aspasia's bliss; 
****** 
Unmoved slie saw the glittering trifles perish, 

And thought the petty dross beneath a sigh. 

Cheerful she followed to the rural cell ; 

Love for her wealth, and her distinction Virtue /" 



216 



MEMOIR OF 



CHAPTER X. 



And a vision of happiness steals through 
- her rest — 



Cease, then, the funeral strain I — Lament no more, 
Whom, rife for fate, 'twere impious to deplore ! 
He died the death of glory. Cease to mourn, 
And cries of grief to songs of triumph turn ! 
Ah, no ! — Awhile, ere reason's voice o'erpowera 
The fond regret that weeps a loss like ours, 

****** 
Yet, yet awhile, the natural tear may flow. 
Nor cold reflection chide the chastening woe ! 



DiMONO. 



ScOTT. 



Yes, there is pain in this 
Most passionate longing to o'erreach the clay — 
This exile-thirst, which stronger grows each day 
To take the morning-wings and flee away 

To realms of future bliss. Mrs. E. J. Eamks. 



Relieved, at last, from the irksomeness of elab- 
orate ceremony, and the time-engrossing duties 
of a public station, the illustrious Subject of our 
IMemoir returned permanently, in the Spring of 
1797, to the earnestly-coveted and peaceful en- 
joyments of the home from which she had so often 
and so long been exiled. 

Never had that home seemed so worthy to be 
graced by the continued presence of its gentle 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 217 

and admirable mistress. The walks, the gardens, 
the grounds, the venerable mansion, all gave most 
pleasing token of the refined taste and careful 
supervision of the beneficent spirits who shed 
everywhere around them so benign an influence. 

But, though the effects of their previous efforts 
were so plainly discernible, General and Mrs. 
Washington entered, with much zeal and interest, 
upon projects for the further improvement and 
embellishment of the intended asylum of their de- 
clining years. 

And now these faithful votaries of nature, these 
unaffected lovers of all the thousand nameless 
joys that constitute the sacred charm of Home, 
contemplated with exquisite pleasure the calm 
vista through which they could at last trace their 
mutual pathway along the vale of time. A tem- 
perate enjoyment of the luxuries aflforded by 
affluence, the affectionate reverence of depend- 
ants and relations, the exalted pleasures of friend- 
ship, the heavenly delights of benevolence, the 
joys of conjugal love — ^all these sources of hap- 
piness were theirs ! 

" And memory stood sidewise, half covered with flowers, 
Displaying each rose, but secreting its thorn," 

while recalling the many varying incidents of 

10 



218 MEMOIR OF 

long years of high duty and successful effort, of 
well-rewarded self-sacrifice and eventual tri- 
u^jajph ! 

Such were the natural and appropriate rewards 
that crowned a Hfe so useful, so virtuous, so ex- 
alted as that which it has been our desire to 
sketch in these brief pages ! Unfettered by the 
" irons of circumstance," through each changing 
scene of her eventful career, Mrs. Washington 
had been faithful to the dictates of a noble na- 
ture, disciplined and controlled by Christian prin- 
ciple. Yielding to no selfish, effeminate love of 
the dolce far niente of existence, nor yet to the 
insidious promptings of worldly ambition, but 
ever " true to the kindred points of Heaven and 
Home," she had passed unfalteringly on, scathed 
neither by the fierce lightnings of adversity, nor 
the dazzling splendor of place and power. The 
wordless eloquence expressed by the serene maj- 
esty of her life, commends itself to our hearts 
with far more resistless pathos than all the eulo- 
gies panegyrists could pronounce, or poet's pen ; 
and we turn from the contemplation of her char- 
acter with mingled emotions of admiration, affec- 
tion, and humility ! 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 219 

Felicity such as now blessed the venerable 
mistress of Mount Vernon partook too little of tb 
usual attributes of human happiness to be ; r- 
petuated on earth. 

Two years after his final resignation of the 
cares of state, the immortal Washington was sud- 
denly summoned to possess, in the revealed pres- 
ence of Deity, 

*' Through boundless Space and countless Time," 

the immutable bliss of a "just man made per- 
feet !" 

Mrs. Washington never for a moment left the 
apartment of her husband during the brief and 
severe illness that terminated his existence. 
Kneeling by his bedside, she bowed her throb- 
bing brow upon the sacred records of those Holy 
Promises and Consolations that could alone sustain 
her spirit in this the hour of her most agonizing 
trial. 4 

" The last effort of the expiring Washington 
was worthy of the Roman fame of his life and 
character. He raised himself up, and casting a 
look of benignity on all around him, as if to thank 
them for their kindly attentions, he composed his 
limbs, closed his eyes, and folding his arms upon 



220 MEMOIR OF 

his bosom, the Father of his Country expired, 
gently as though an infant died !" " Favored of 
Heaven, he departed without exhibiting the weak- 
ness of humanity ; magnanimous in death, the 
darkness of the grave could not obscure his 
brightness !" 

Fate had now dealt the last deadly blow to the 
earthly happiness of Mrs. Washington ! Her 
children, their father, the faithful, affectionate, 
sympathizing friend and counsellor, with whom, 
through unnumbered years, she had stood side by 
side in many and grievous trials, dangers, and 
sorrows, — all were gone ! The desolate survivor 
stood like a lone sentinel upon a deserted battle- 
field, regarding in mute despair the fatal destruc- 
tion of hope, and love, and joy ! 

" She sheds no tears, her grief s too highly wrought : 
'Tis speechless agony !" 

Long did the heart-stricken mourner lingei 
amid the familiar objects that, like the faces of 
old friends, everywhere met her sorrowful eyes, 
and in the beloved presence of all that was mortal 
of the august Christian Philosopher, to whose 
memory the apartment where he reposed would 
be forever consecrated. Yielding at last to the 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 221 

entreaties of affection, she turned a long, soul- 
harrowing gaze upon the placid features of the 
mighty dead, and then departing from these hal- 
lowed precincts, never more returned to a spot 
replete with associations at once sorrowful and 
inviolate ! 

The shock occasioned by the intelligence of 
the death of Washington " fell upon the country 
with the unexpected suddenness of an earthquake; 
dismay and affliction suspended all business ; all 
ages and classes united in demonstrations of re- 
spect and affection." 

"By an arrangement with the Government, 
Mrs. Washington yielded the remains of the 
Chief to the prayers of the nation, as expressed 
through its representatives in Congress, condition- 
ing that, at her decease, her own remains should 
accompany those of her husband to the Capital. 
The earthly relics of the great Pater Patri^ 
were then consigned to the Family Tomb within 
the grounds of Mount Vernon, there to await the 
final disposition of his country."* 

" When the burst of grief which followed the 
death of the Pater Patrice had a little subsided, 
visits of condolence to the bereaved lady were 

* National Portrait Gallery. 



222 MEMOIR OP 

made by the first personages of the land. The 
President of the United States, with many other 
distinguished individuals, repaired to Mount Ver- 
non, while letters,* addresses, funeral orations, 
and all the tokens of sorrow and respect, loaded 
the mails from every quarter of the country, offer- 
ing the sublime tribute of a nation's mourning for 
a nation's benefactor."f 

But grateful and consolatory as were these 
spontaneous manifestations of reverential regard 
for the memory of her illustrious husband, Mrs. 
Washington possessed a far higher and dearer 
source of confidence in his eternal happiness than 
any earthly fiat could bestow, in her inward and 
assured conviction that he had ever sou2;ht the 
same '^fountain of limn g waters,'' from which she 
had herself drunk deep of heavenly hope and joy If 

* A letter addressed to Mrs. Washington on this solemn oc- 
casion by the Earl of Bucan, the brother of Lor4 Erskine, and 
the distant relative of Washington, has recently been discovered 
among the papers of Mrs. W., by her grand-daughter, Mrs. 
Lawrence Lewis, and given to the public. Our readers will not 
be displeased with its insertion in this volume, though it is char- 
acterized by some peculiarities of style and expression. See 
Note D, of the Appendix. 

f National PoRTRArr Gallery. 

X We present our readers with a communication upon this 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 223 

The venerable Subject of our Memoir now 
looked eagerly and intently forward to the termi- 
nation of that journey in which she had been pre- 
ceded by all who were most dear to her. Devoutly 
resting her wounded spirit upon the soothing 
conviction that those from whom she was here 
separated would then be forever restored to her, 
she strengthened herself to tread on in the weary 
way of life, with mournful but unshaken confi- 
dence in the blessed truth that " all things work 
together for good" in the orderings of the Great 
Disposer of events. Hers was was not the cal- 
lousness of indifference or insensibility, the ob- 
tuseness of a benighted stoicism, or the lightness 
of a shallow intellect ; but the undoubting con- 
stancy of a Christian, whose faith in Him who 

" giveth, with paternal care. 



Howe'er unjustly we complain, 
To each their necessary share 

Of joy and sorrow, health and pain," 



highly interesting subject, addressed, at liis request, to Mr. 
I Sparks, by the adopted daughter of Washington, Miss Custis, 
I who was twenty years an inmate of the family of her kind pro- 
\ lector. Any attempt to abridge these agreeably -written para- 
^ graphs must, necessarily, diminish the pleasing simplicity and 
frankness that lend additional interest to the details they con- 
tain. — 3ee Note E, of the Appendix. 



224 MEMOIR OF 

no mortal suffering could disturb, no sublunary 
occurrence could destroy ! 

But neither her changeless grief, nor her deep 
interest in the concerns of a future state of ex- 
istence, were regarded by this exemplary and 
self-sacrificing Christian as entitling her to ex- 
emption from vigilant attention to the requisitions 
of actual and practical life. The many cares 
assumed by the helpful, judicious, kindly friend 
who had formerly shared her toils and duties, now 
rested solely upon her. Yet though Mrs. Wash- 
ington was in her sixty-ninth year, she stil) ron- 
ducted the various affairs of her extensiv .r.tab- 
lishment with her previous diligence, re/ -iarity, 
and skill, and discharged the numerous ob gations 
of the hostess of Mount Vernon, with wonted 
dignity and urbanity. More grave, mo e silent, 
she might be ; but no duty was forg )tten or 
omitted in relation to domestic arrangenents, no 
courtesy neglected towards the innume: able vo- 
taries who sought, in sorrowing pilgrin-age, Co- 
lumbia's more than Mecca-shrine. 

" Light grief is fond of state and courts compaf sion, 
But there's a dignity in cureless sorrow, ' 

A sullen grandeur, which disdains complaint 

Yet, despite this outward composure, this ha- 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 225 

bitual self-control, this hospitable amenity, her 
lustreless and abstracted eye, and the one glow- 
ing spot in her else blanched and faded cheek, 
betrayed only too plainly the ceaseless struggle 
of that noble spirit ! 

" She lived — for life may long be borne 
Ere sorrow break its chain 1" 

But what was earth, what was life, to this be- 
reaved and heart-stricken mourner ! 

Thus passed two long years for the worn and 
weary earth-wanderer ; and then her sudden and 
serious illness spread consternation to the outer- 
most circle of the many loving and sympathizing 
hearts that ever environed her. 

Dr. Craik, the old and highly-esteemed physi- 
cian of the family, w^ell aware of the insidious 
mental foe that had but too surely undermined 
the strength of his patient, scarce spoke of hope 
to the sorrowing household, and Mrs. Washing- 
ton was herself aware of her approaching disso- 
lution. 

Dying as she had lived, mindful of duty to the 
last, the expiring Christian summoned the several 
members of her family to attend her death-bed, 
and addressed to her grand-children, particularly, 

lO* 



226 MEMOIR OF MARTHA WASHINu 

the most solemn and impressive words of exhorta- 
tion and advice. She bore the most unequivocal 
and triumphant testimony to her unwavering 
reliance upon the hopes and assurances of the 
Religion that had been the guide and support of 
her long and varied life, and with that appro- 
priate and pathetic farewell, this celebrated 
American Matron tranquilly rendered back her 
earthly existence to Him from whom it was re- 
ceived. 

The death of Mrs. Washington occurred in 
the year 1801, and during the seventy-first year 
of her age. 

Her remains, in accordance with her desire, 
were enclosed in a leaden coffin, and placed be- 
side those of Washington in the family tomb at 
Mount Vernon. 



APPENDIX 



TO 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. 



APPENDIX TO MARTHA WASHINGTON. 



^ ■ ♦ » ^ 



NOTE A. 

Mr. Sparks gives us the original List, as found 
among Washington's papers. For explanatory 
particulars, see Sparks' Life of Washington, 
Vol. II. 329. We, of course, copy exactly, from 
Mr. S. 

" A Salmon-colored Tabby of the enclosed pat- 
tern, with satin flowers, to be made in a sack and 
coat. One Cap, Handkerchief, Tucker, and Ruf- 
fles to be made of Brussels lace, or point, proper 
to wear with the above negligee, to cost £20 
One piece Bag Holland at 6s. (a yard.) 2 fine 
flowered Lawn Aprons. 2 double Handkerchiefs. 
1 pair woman's white Silk Hose. 6 pairs fine 
Cotton do. 4 pairs Thread do. 1 pair black 
and 1 pair white Satin Shoes, of the smallest 5s. 
4 pairs Calamanco, do. 1 fashionable Hat, or 



230 APPENDIX. 

Bonnet. 6 pairs woman's best Kid Gloves. 8 
pairs ditto mits. 1-2 dozen Knots and Breast 
Knots. 1 doz. round Silk laces. 1 black Mask. 

1 doz. most fashionable Pocket Handkerchiefs. 

2 pairs neat, small Scissors. 1 lb. sewing silk, 
shaded. 4 pieces binding Tape. 6 m. Minikin 
Pins. 1 m. Hair ditto. 6 lbs. perfumed Pow- 
der. 3 lbs. best Scotch Snuff. 3 lbs. best vio- 
lette Strasburg. 8 lbs. Starch. 2 lbs. powdered 
Blue. 2 oz. Coventry Thread, one of which to 
be very fine. 1 piece narrow white satin Ribbon, 
pearl edge. 1 case of Pickles, to consist of An- 
chovies, Capers, Olives, Salad Oil, and 1 bottle 
India Mangoes. One large Cheshire Cheese. 4 
lbs. Green Tea. 10 groce best corks. 25 lbs. 
best jar Raisins. 25 lbs. Almonds, in the shell 

1 hogshead best Porter. 10 loaves double and 10 
single refined sugar. ***** 12 lbs. 
best Mustard. 2 doz. Jack's playing Cards. * 
* * * * 11-2 doz. Bell glasses for Garden. 

2 more Chair Bottoms, such as were written for 
in a former invoice. 1 more Windsor Curtain 
and Cornice. 100 lbs. White Biscuit. 3 gallons 
of Rhenish in bottles." 

There then follows a long enumeration of arti- 
cles, evidently designed for the use and comfort 



APPENDIX. 231 

of the slaves upon the estate ; among which we 
observe "350 yds. Kendall Cotton," " 100 Dutch 
Blankets," &c., &c., together with numerous 
Garden, Carpenter's, and Farming tools, and 
articles of Cutlery and Iron- ware, sufficient to 
supply a colony preparing to populate a deserted 
island of considerable size ! 

Among the medicines ordered (and the list 
seems to us to include the whole Materia Medi- 
ca /) we light upon the agreeable items of " Pearl 
Barley" and " Sago," " 5 lbs. White Sugar Can- 
dy," " 10 lbs. Brown do.," " 1 lb. Barley Sugar." 

After this follows an array of the names of 
medicines to be used in Farriery ; and the whole 
is concluded by the following — 

Invoice of Sundries to be shipped by Robert 
Cary and Company, for the use of Master 
John and Miss Patty Custis, each to be 
charged to their own accounts, but both 
consigned to George Washington, Potomac 
River. 

For Master Custis, 6 yeai^s old. — 1 piece Irish 
Holland, at 4s. 2 yards fine Cambric, at 10s. 
6 pocket Handkerchiefs, small and fine. 6 pairs 
Gloves; 2 Laced Hats. 2 pieces India Nan- 



232 APPENDIX. 

keen. 6 pairs fine thread Stockings, 4 pairs 
coarser do. 4 pairs worsted do. 4 pairs strong 
Shoes ; 4 pairs Pumps. 1 summer suit of clothes, 
to be made of something hght and thin. 3 fine 
Ivory Combs ; 2 Horn do., and 2 Brushes. 1 
piece black Hair Ribbon. 1 pair handsome Sil- 
ver Shoe and Knee Buckles. 10s. worth of Toys. 
G little books for children beginning to read. 1 
oz. 8d. Thread ; 1 oz. 12d. do. ; 1 oz. 2s. do. ; 1 
oz. 3s. do. 1-2 lb. whited brown Thread. 1 light 
duffel Cloak with silver frogs. 

For Miss Custis, 4 years old. — 8 yards fine 
printed Linen, at 3s. 6d. 1 piece Irish Holland, 
at 4s. 2 ells fine Holland, at 10s. 8 pairs kid 
Mits ; 4 pairs gloves. 2 pairs silk shoes. 4 
pairs Calemanco do. ; 4 pairs leather Pumps. 6 
pairs fine thread Stockings. 4 pairs worsted do. 
1-2 piece flowered Dimity. 2 yards fine Cam- 
bric, at 10s. 2 Caps, 2 pairs Ruffles, 2 Tuckers, 
Bibs, and Aprons, if fashionable. 2 Fans ; 2 
Masks ; 2 Bonnets. 2 m. large Pins ; 2 m. short 
whites ; 2 m. Minikins ; 1 Cloth Cloak. 1 stiff"- 
ened Coat of Fashionable Silk, made to pack- 
thread stays. 6 yards Ribbon ; 2 Necklaces. 1 
pair Silver Sleeve Buttons, with stones. 1 fash- 
ionable-dressed baby, 10s.; and other Toys, 10s. 
6 Pocket Handkerchiefs. 



NOTE B. 

" November 24th. — After dinner, as I had heard 
some threats thrown out, that if the ball assem- 
bled this night, as it was proposed, they presumed 
that the New Tavern would cut but a poor figure 
to-morrow morning, these fears of some commo- 
tion's being made that would be very disagreeable 
at this melancholy time, in disturbing the peace 
of the city, I concluded if possible, to prevent, in 
order to which I went to Colonel Hancock's lodg- 
ings, and finding he was not come from Congress, 
and the time grew short, being three o'clock, I 
walked up to the State House, in expectation of 
meeting him. That failing, I requested the door- 
keeper to call Samuel Adams, which he accord- 
ingly did, and he came. I then informed him of 
the account received of a ball, that was to be 
held this evening, and where, and that Mrs. 
Washington and Colonel Hancock's wife were to 
be present, and as such meetings appeared to be 
contrary to the Eighth Resolve of Congress, 1 
therefore requested he would give my respects to 



234 APPENDIX. 

Colonel Hancock, desire him to wait on Lady 
Washington to request her not to attend or go 
this evening. This he promised. Thence I went 
and met the Committee at Philosophic Hall, which 
was large and respectable, being called together 
for this only purpose to consider the propriety of 
this meeting or ball's being held this evening in 
this city, at the New Tavern, where, after due 
and mature consideration, it was then concluded, 
there being but one dissenting voice, (Sharp De- 
lany,) that there should be no such meeting held, 
not only this evening, but in future, while these 
troublesome times continued, and a Committee 
was appointed, immediately, to go and inform the 
directors of the meeting not to proceed any fur- 
ther in this affair, and also to wait upon Lady 
Washington, expressing this Committee's great 
regard and affection to her, requesting her to 
accept of their grateful acknowledgments and 
respect, due to her on account of her near con- 
nection with our worthy and brave General, now 
exposed in the field of battle in defence of our 
rights and liberties, and request and desire her 
not to grace that company, to which we are in- 
formed, she has an invitation this evening, &c., 
&c. Came home near six. After I drank coffee, 



APPENDIX. 235 

1 went down to Samuel Adams' lodgings, where 
was Colonel Dyer. Spent some time pleasantly, 
until Colonel Harrison came to rebuke Samuel 
Adams for using his influence for the stoppage of 
this entertainment which he declared was legal, 
just and laudable. Many arguments were used 
by all present to convince him of the impropriety 
at this time, but all to no effect ; so as he came 
out of humor, he so returned, to appearance. 

" November 25th. — vit half past eleven, went 
to the Committee Room at the Coffee House ; 
came away near two. At this time Major Bay- 
ard, one of the four gentlemen appointed to wait 
on Lady Washington, reported that they had 
acted agreeably to directions, that the lady re- 
ceived them with great politeness, thanked the 
Committee for their kind care and regard in giv- 
ing such timely notice, requesting her best com- 
pliments to be returned to them for their care 
and regard, and to assure them that their senti- 
ments on this occasion, were perfectly agreeable 
to her own." 



NOTE C. 

"To THE Marchioness de La Fayette. 

"Mount Yernon, 25 November, 1784. 
" Madam : 

" If my expressions were equal to my sensi- 
bility, I should, in more elegant language than I 
am master of, declare to you my sense of the ob- 
ligation I am under for the letter you did me the 
honor to write to me by the Marquis de La Fay- 
ette, and thanks for this flattering instance of 
your regard. The pleasure I received in once 
more embracing my friend could only have been 
increased by your presence, and the opportunity 
I should thereby have had of paying, in my own 
house, the homage of my respectful attachment 
to his better half I have the promise, which the 
Marquis has ratified to Mrs. Washington, that he 
will use his influence to bring you with him to 
this country, whenever he shall visit it asrain. 
When the weight of so powerful an advocate is 
on your side, will you, my dear Marchioness, 
deny us the pleasure of your accompanying him 
to the shores of Columbia ? In offering our mite. 



APPENDIX. 237 

we can only assure you, that endeavors shall not 
be wanting on our part to make this new world 
as agreeable to you, as rural scenes and peaceful 
retirement are competent to. 

" The Marquis returns to you with all the 
warmth and ardor of a newly-inspired lover. We 
restore him to you in good health, crowned with 
wreaths of love and respect from every part of 
the Union. That his meeting with you, his 
family, and friends may be propitious, and as hap- 
py as your wishes can make it, that you may live 
lonor together revered and beloved, and that vou 
may transmit to a numerous progeny the virtues 
which you both possess, is the fervent wish of 
your devoted and 

" Most respectful 

" Humble servant, 

" George Washington. 

" N. B. In every good wish for you, Mrs. 
Washington sincerely joins me." 



Accompanying this letter was the following 
epistle, addressed to the little Virginia de La 
Fayette, which, though it has no direct connection 
with our subject, is too interesting and character- 
istic to be separated from its companion : — - 



238 APPENDIX. 

" To Mademoiselle de La Fayette. 

"Mount Vernon, 25 November, 1784. 

" Permit me to thank my dear lit ,le correspon- 
dent for the favor of her letter of the 18 of June 
last, and to impress her with the idea of the pleas- 
ure I shall derive from a continuance of them. 
Her papa is restored to her with all the good 
health, paternal affection, and honors, which her 
tender heart could wish. He will carry a kiss to 
her from me (which might be more agreeable 
from a pretty boy), and give her assurances of 
the affectionate regard with which I have the 
pleasure of being her well-wdsher. 

" George Washington." 



"To the Marchioness de La Fayette. 

"Mount Vernon, 10 May, 1*786. 

" Madam : 

" The tokens of regard, with which Miss de 
La Fayette and my namesake* honored the young 
folks of this family, will cement the friendship, 
which seems to be rising in their tender hearts, 
and will increase those flames of it, which they 
have imbibed from their parents, to which nothing 

■^ George Washington La Fayette. 



APPENDIX. 239 

can add strength but the endearments that flow 
from personal interviews, and the unreserved 
exchange of liberal sentiments. Will you not 
then, Madam, afford them this opportunity ? May 
we hope for it soon ? If the assurances of the 
sincerest esteem and affection, if the varieties of 
uncultivated nature, the novelty of exchanging 
the gay and delightful scenes of Paris, with which 
you are surrounded, for the rural amusements of 
a country in its infancy ; if the warbling notes of 
the feathered songsters on our lawns and meads, 
can for a moment make you forget the melody of 
the opera and the pleasures of the court, these all 
invite you to give us this honor, and the opportu- 
nity of expressing to you personally those senti- 
ments of attachment and love, with which you 
have inspired us. 

" The noontide of life is now passed with Mrs. 
Washington and myself; and all we have to do 
is to spend the evening of our days in tranquillity, 
and glide gently down a stream which no human 
effort can ascend. We must, therefore, however 
reluctantly it is done, forgo the pleasure of such a 
visit as you kindly invite us to make. But the 
case with you is far otherwise. Your days are in 
their meridian brightness. In the natural order 



240 APPENDIX. 

of things, you have many years to come, in which 
you may indulge yourself in all the amusements, 
which variety can afford, and different countries 
produce, and in receiving those testimonies of 
respect which every one in the United States 
would wish to render to you. 

" My mother will receive the compliments you 
honor her with, as flattering marks of attention ; 
and I shall have great pleasure in delivering them 
myself. My best wishes and vows are offered for 
you, and for the fruits of your love ; and with 
every sentiment of respect and attachment, 
" I have the honor to be, Madam, &c. 

" George Washington."* 

* Sparks' Private Letters of "Washington. 



NOTE D. 

" The Earl of Buchan to Mrs. Washington 

" Dryburgh Abbey, Jan. 28, 1800. 
" Madam : 

" I have this day received from my brother, at 
London, the afflicting tidings of the death of your 
admirable husband, my revered kinsman and 
friend. I am not afraid, even under this sudden 
and unexpected stroke of Divine Providence, to 
o-ive vent to the immediate reflections excited by 
it, because my attachment to your illustrious con- 
sort was the pure result of reason, reflection, and 
congeniality of sentiment. He v^as one of those 
whom the Almighty, in successive ages, has 
chosen apd raised up to promote the ultimate de- 
signs of his goodness and mercy, in the gradual 
melioration of his creatures and the coming of 
his kingdom, which is in heaven. 

" It may be said of this great and good man who 
has been taken from among us, what was written 
by the wise and discerning Tacitus concerning 
his father-in-law Agricola, that, " though he was 
snatched away while his age was not broken by 



242 APPENDIX. 

infirmity or dimmed by bodily decay of reason, 
yet that, if his Ufa be measured by his glory, he 
attained to a mighty length of days ; for every 
true felicity, namely, all such as arise from virtue, 
he had already enjoyed to the full. As he had 
likewise held the supreme authority of the state 
with the confidence and applause of all wise and 
good men in every part of the world, as well as 
among those he governed, and had enjoyed tri- 
umphal honors in a war undertaken for the de- 
fence of the inalienable rights of mankind, what 
more, humanly speaking, could fortune add to his 
lustre and renown ?" 

" After enormous wealth he sought not ; an hon- 
orable share he possessed. His course he finished 
in the peaceful retreat of his own election, in the 
arms of a dutiful and affectionate wife, and be- 
dewed with the tears of surrounding relatives and 
friends, with the unspeakably superior advantage 
to that of a Roman general, in the hopes afforded 
by the Gospel of pardon and peace ! He there- 
fore. Madam, to continue my parallel, may be 
accounted singularly happy, since by dying ac- 
cording to his own Christian and humble wish, 
expressed on many occasions, while his credit 
was nowise impaired, his fame in all its splendor, 



APPENDIX. 243 

nis relations and friends not only in a state of 
comfort and security, but of honor, he was prob- 
ably to escape many evils incident to declining 
years. Moreover, he saw the government of his 
country in hands conformable to our joint wishes 
and to the safety of the nation, and a contingent 
succession opening, not less favorable to the 
liberties and happiness of the people. 

" Considering my uniform regard for the Amer- 
ican States, manifested long before their forming 
a separate nation, I may be classed as it were 
among their citizens, especially as I am come of 
a worthy ancestor, Lord Cardross, w^ho found ref- 
uge there in the last century, and had large prop- 
erty in Carolina, where Port Royal is now situ- 
ated. I hope it will not be thought impertinent 
or officious, if I recommend to that country and 
nation of America at large the constant remem- 
brance of the moral and political maxims con- 
veyed to its citizens by the Father and Founder 
of the United States, in his farewell address, in 
that speech which he m.ade to the Senate and 
House of Representatives, where the last hand 
was put to the formation of the Federal Con- 
stitution ; and may it he perpetual. 

" It seems to me that such maxims and such 



244 APPENDIX. 

advice ought to be engraved on every forum or 
place of common assembly among the people, and 
read by parents, teachers, and guardians to their 
children and pupils, so that true religion, and 
virtue, its inseparable attendant, may be imbibed 
by the rising generation to remote ages ; and the 
foundations of national policy be laid and con- 
tinued in the superstructure, in the pure and im- 
mutable principles of private morality, since there 
is no truth more thoroughly established than that 
there exists in the economy and course of nature 
an indissoluble union between virtue and happi- 
ness, between duty and happiness, between duty 
and advantage, between the genuine maxims of 
an honest and magnanimous people, and the solid 
rewards of public prosperity and felicity ; since 
we ought to be no less persuaded that the propi- 
tious smiles of heaven can never be expected on 
a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order 
and right which Heaven itself has ordained ; and 
since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty 
and the destiny of the Republican model of gov- 
ernment are justly considered as deeply, perhaps 
finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the 
hands of the American people. 



APPENDIX. 245 

" Lady Buchan joins with me in the most sin- 
cere, respectful good wishes. 

" I am, Madam, with sincere esteem, 

" Yom' obedient and faithful servant, 

"Buchan." 



NOTE E. 

After some particulars in relation to the seve- 
ral churches in the vicinity of Mount Vernon, 
the fair writer gives us the following interesting 
details respecting Washington and family : — 

" We attended the Church at Alexandria, when 
the weather and roads permitted a ride of ten 
miles. In New York and Philadelphia, he never 
omitted attendance at church in the morning, un- 
less detained by indisposition. The afternoon 
was spent in his own room at home ; the evening 
with his family and without company. Some- 
times an old and intimate friend called to see us 
for an hour or two ; but visiting and visitors were 
prohibited for that day. No one in church at- 
tended to the services with more reverential re- 
spect. My grandmother, who was eminently 
pious, never deviated from her usual habits. She 
always knelt. The general, as was then the cus- 
tom, stood during the devotional parts of the ser- 
vice. On communion Sundays, he left the church 
with me, after the blessing, and returned home, 



APPENDIX. 247 

and we sent the carriage back for my grand- 
mother. 

" It was his custom to retire to his Ubrary at 
nine or ten o'clock, where he remained an hour 
before he went to his chamber. He always rose 
before the sun, and remained in his library until 
called to breakfast. I never witnessed his private 
devotions, I never inquired about them. I should 
have thought it the greatest heresy to doubt his 
firm belief in Christianity. His hfe, his writings, 
prove that he was a Christian. He was not one 
of those who act, or pray, ' that they may be seen 
of men.' He communed with his God in secret. 

" My mother resided two years at Mount Ver- 
non, after her marriage with John Park Custis, 
the only son of Mrs. Washington. I have heard 
her say that General Washington always received 
the sacrament with my grandmother before the 
Revolution. When my aunt. Miss Custis, died 
suddenly at Mount Vernon, before they could 
realize the event, he knelt by her and prayed most 
fervently, most afFectingly for her recovery. Of 
this I was assured by Judge Washington's mother, 
and other witnesses. 

" He was a silent, thoughtful man. He spoke 
little generally ; never of himself I never heard 



1 1 

248 APPENDIX. 



no 



him relate a single act of his life during the war. 
I have often seen him perfectly abstracted, his 
lips moving, but no sound vvas perceptible. I 
have often made him laugh most heartily from 
sympathy with my joyous and extravagant spirits. 
I was, probably, one of the last persons on earth 
to whom he would have addressed serious con- 
versation, particularly when he knew that I had 
the most perfect model of female excellence ever 
with me as my monitress, who acted the part of 
a tender and devoted parent, loving me only as a 
mother can love, and never extenuating or ap- 
proving in me what she disapproved in others. 
She never omitted her private devotions, or her 
public duties ; and she and her husband were so 
perfectly united and happy that he must have been 
a Christian. She had no doubts, no fears, for him. 
After forty years of devoted affection and unin- 
terrupted happiness, she resigned him without a 
murmur into the arms of his Saviour and his God, 
with the assured hope of his eternal felicity." 



THE END. 



q 91 80 • 



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